


Matchmakers

by mashisims



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: College AU, Everyone is a freshman, Falling In Love, M/M, but it's also right :), friends helping friends, hooking each other up, their plan goes wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27792982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mashisims/pseuds/mashisims
Summary: Ricky's had a crush on Nini since the first day of class, and Gina has a crush on a, in Ricky's words, self-absorbed, ridiculous, mostly-abs kind of man. Gina convinces Ricky to help each other score a date with their crushes, so they start hanging out with them to make it happen.Eventually, yes, they do fall in love. Just not with the people they had originally planned to fall in love with.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell
Comments: 20
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! Last year, after I published my first RJ story, I wanted to continue writing for them, but it's been a crazy year, and I hadn't had the motivation to do so, but now I'm getting back into writing for these beautiful idiots, and I'm loving it so much.
> 
> I hope you stick around for this one!

Ricky had a skateboard, and Gina had a scooter; both rolling forward in the middle of the lightly trafficked street during an early, fresh morning, headed for an _out of the routine_ kind of school day. Ricky’s bag was lighter than usual; simply carrying his lunch, his notebook, and a couple of pens, because that was what he considered needed for the day’s excursion. He didn’t know why Gina’s backpack looked so full; though, he didn’t ask because of two reasons mainly. First, he’d probably be stepping over a boundary he wasn’t sure existed, as he had come to understand over the years by having a female best friend. Second, he wanted to push aside the idea that maybe there was something he had forgotten to bring, and he had come to the school’s first empiric part of their October project completely unprepared. If that was the case, then he’d be fine with not knowing until later, when it’d be evident.

“Look, the buses are already here” Gina pointed at the big vehicles from afar, without making her scooter stop.

“We’re not late, are we?” Ricky asked, never bothered to check the time.

“No,” Gina answered confidently. “We said we’d get here early to pick the best seats” She scooted faster.

“Right” Ricky answered, not even knowing which those were. He also dragged his foot onto the ground a few times to keep up with Gina.

When both of them arrived to their school, Gina got off the scooter and started walking with it next to her. Ricky got off from his skateboard and grabbed it with his right hand, all in one smooth movement, and he followed Gina inside the building.

“I’m putting this in my locker, I’ll be back” Gina announced as she had already started walking through the hall, almost running while wheeling that metal thing on her side.

“Okay”

Ricky walked through the opposite hall, and stopped right in front of the last locker in its row, where he could easily turn his head to the left and see the rest of the school; fittingly convenient for avoiding teachers or specific people right on time. It gave him an advantage so he could turn around and walk away with no unwanted encounters. In his opinion, the best locker he never knew he needed.

Just like Gina had said before, it was pretty early, so when he did turn his head, slightly to the left, he didn’t see much going on; a few more students opening and closing their own lockers, and- yeah, that’s pretty much it. He slid his skateboard into his locker, and debated for a second between grabbing his Social Science book, and ignoring the impatient feeling that he might be forgetting something.

Slowly, he closed the locker door shut, choosing to ignore his responsibilities. However, before he could regret it, or feel at least a tiny spark of pledged duty, he felt his phone vibrate inside his backpack. He twisted around so he could open it up without having to take it off his shoulders, and reached in to grab his phone. He unlocked it right away, and read the text that popped up.

“ _I slept in, we’re on our way_ ” No surprise there. “- _please save us seats close to you_ ”

Ricky looked at the time in the corner of the screen before he profoundly answered;

“ _k_ ”

Keeping his phone in his front pocket this time, he heard sneakers’ screeching approaching him. He lifted up his gaze and saw Gina running toward him, but deviated to the front door instead. “Ready, come on”

Ricky followed his friend as she sprinted to the buses parked in front of the building. He could tell the drivers were not inside them yet, but the doors were wide open, and a few heads were visible through the windows. Yeah, Ricky had been silently judging Gina for getting there early with the purpose of snatching the good seats, but there were apparently other people who had taken that idea as well, with a higher extreme, and Ricky couldn’t relate. Nevertheless, even though he was that kind of person who doesn’t mind being late and people get mad at, having a friend like Gina basically kept him from being late whenever they were together. So, did people have Ricky in a concept of innate disobedience? No, but; was it earned by own merits? Also no.

Before they, or anyone, were allowed to get in the bus, they had to mark attendance with Mr. Davies, who was sitting, now standing, next to the first bus.

After signing their names on the clipboard sheet, they climbed into the bus, and Ricky followed as Gina decided to sit wherever she decided was best, which happened to be somewhere in the middle, and Ricky could still not tell why those were the best seats. Nonetheless, he sat down next to Gina, her taking the window seat and him taking the- other one, and he practically threw his bag onto the seats across them. As soon as the backpack landed, the few things he was carrying peeked through the open zipper, and Ricky reached in to close it before anything would drop.

“Why did you put your backpack there?” Gina asked as she raised her arms to keep hers in the compartment.

“I’m saving the spaces for Red and Ashlyn, they might get here a bit late”

Gina’s expression was something he wasn’t expecting.

“People are going to start bugging us about them when the bus starts getting full, can you tell Red to get here faster?”

“He’s on his way, he’s already coming” He laughed while explaining. “It’ll be fine”

Ricky stood up and reached in to grab Gina’s heavy backpack. He used it to mark the next seat as _taken_ as well. He watched Gina’s expression after that, and he returned the disapproval with a smile.

Gina shook her head without saying a word, and before she could, Ricky watched as she looked down at her phone; she stared at it for a few seconds completely expressionless, and Ricky didn’t bother to ask. However, when Gina stood up and took a step to the other side, where their backpacks were, he did want to ask. She grabbed Ricky’s bag and threw it to him, proceeding to sit down on the seat across Ricky and stretch her legs across the other one.

“Why did you move?”

“Ashlyn wants the window seat, I’m saving it for her” He shrugged it off, casually avoiding Ricky’s eyes, who opened his mouth in slight betrayal.

“She texted you?” Ricky asked, and watched as Gina shrugged once more, this time with a smile and wide eyes.

“So, when I ask, it’s a burden, and when she asks, there’s no question?”

“Yeah, she’s my friend”

“I’m your friend, too”

“She’s the better one”

Ricky shook his head, acting hurt.

“Why is your backpack so light?” Gina asked while changing the topic.

“What do you mean?” Ricky returned the question, slowly, trying to keep avoiding that thought of disobedience.

“Where’s your book? And you’re your evidence kit? Your camera? Your list of questions?”

Ricky felt both a strike of defeat as he realized he should’ve grabbed his Social Studies book earlier, and relief, since the other things he could easily improvise.

“Well, yeah, I forgot my book in my locker, but I can save my evidence, and take photos with my phone” He leaned back onto his seat, expressing his lack of deliberation.

“And your list?”

Ricky unlocked his phone and started typing. “Yeah, I’m doing that right now”

“Of course,” Gina chuckled, also leaning onto her seat, taking out her own phone. “Oh, no, I forgot to charge my phone”

“Where’s it at?”

“Thirty percent”

Ricky tried to think of a few questions for the interviews they were making in their field trip, which were supposed to have been already thought out, but then he imagined he could do that on the road, and it’d be better if he went and got his book instead.

“Actually-” Ricky began to stand up-

To the person walking into the bus, wherever he was going could wait for later, because there was some announcement to be made. Ricky, Gina, and the rest of the few students already in the bus, watched as Mr. Davies walked in.

“Hold that thought, Mr. Bowen” He stopped Ricky from walking out and signaled him to sit back down. “Thank you guys for being early, you’ve been the chosen ones” He started, and whatever was about to be said, Ricky continued to silently judge and curse Gina for getting them there earlier than needed. Gina, on the other hand, seemed more excited than worried. “All eight of you will be team leaders”

Their social studies’ professor began taking notes; possibly writing their names down.

“We’ll organize the teams once we get there, but for now, start thinking how you’ll organize your activities for the day” The man patted the seat he was leaning on a few times.

Ricky wasn’t too happy about the news. Being early sure had disadvantages. Either way, he stood up again so he could step out of the bus.

“Where are you going?” The teacher asked.

“I’m getting my stuff, for the trip” Ricky smiled, and he clearly saw how the teacher rolled his eyes.

“Oh, you’ll be a great leader, Mr. Bowen” The teacher turned around and started walking toward the exit of the bus, allowing Ricky to leave as well. He heard Gina’s laugh behind him as he walked.

Gina had been right assuming people would start bugging them about the backpacks sitting next to them; especially by the time the bus started getting full. Some of the other college students were claiming they couldn’t go into the second bus until the first one had no available seats left. Fortunately, for Ricky and Gina’s sake, Big Red and Ashlyn arrived barely on time; they sat down next to their friends and thanked them for the inconvenience.

“Why did it take so long?” Ricky asked right after. “The dorm is like 5 minutes away”

Big Red met his questioning expression with a cheeky smile. “Yeah, but we weren’t in the dorm when I texted you” Red would’ve also winked, if he’d known how to.

“Where were you?”

“Last night, Ash and I went to this ancient thing where you take your car to watch a movie, it’s outdoors and the movie’s projected, supposed to be romantic or something” Red went through the stuff in his backpack, probably checking if he had everything.

“Right,”

“So we took Ashlyn’s cousin’s truck so we could park and lay down on the back, but we fell asleep and woke up just this morning” Big Red finished the story with such a smile, that made Ricky wonder why his nights were so boring compared to that.

“Who’s Ashlyn’s cousin?” Ricky asked, disregarding that thought.

“Oh, I don’t know, some guy” Big Red shook off the question a little, but it still looked like he had taken a second to actually think about it. Did he really not know his girlfriend’s cousin? Ricky watched as Big Red shook that off as well.

“Anyway, we drove back to the dorm to get changed, and then we drove here. Ashlyn wanted to return the truck to her cousin before, but we were late so we had to park it here”

It took a couple seconds for Big Red to continue with his idea, completely changing his facial expression, letting it expose his concern.

“It’ll be safe here, right?”

“I guess” Ricky smiled and shrugged “I always keep my skateboard in my locker”

“Yeah, but I can’t keep the truck in my locker”

“Okay everybody-”

Mr. Davies entered the bus one more time. He rubbed his hands together and tried to look at everyone inside.

“We’re waiting for a few more of you to get here, the next bus is almost half full, so we’ll be leaving in ten minutes tops. Please, nobody gets out of the bus right now, once the doors close, they’re not opening until we get there, so I hope everyone is ready-”

Ricky wasn’t surprised when his teacher locked eyes with him for a split second.

“Okay? Great” Mr. Davies shared a smile. “Have a good ride everyone”

Almost clockwise, the doors of the bus closed shut, and they began moving.

Most of the ride was spent with Ricky and Big Red talking about Ricky’s new guitar, which he loved and couldn’t resist talking about the new things he was discovering about it. He would occasionally lean forward so he could be part of the conversation with Ashlyn and Gina; and some shorter times, each one of them would lock away with their earphones and their own music.

Less than two hours later, the ride was over. Slowly, some students proceeded to wake up, or to wake up someone else; people left their seats and stretched their arms and legs.

Ricky, like his friends and the rest of the people in the bus, brought his backpack down from the compartment, and waited until the hallway was clear enough for him to leave his row. Big Red let Ashlyn and Gina get out first, following his girlfriend and being followed by his best friend.

As everyone started to step out of their respective buses, the college students gathered in a big group right in front of Mr. Davies and a couple other teachers who Ricky didn’t know too well. He knew they were also Social Science teachers, but they had different groups and different levels, he assumed.

“Okay, everybody” One of the teachers who Ricky didn’t know called for everyone’s attention. “I assume you all remembered to print out and bring the schedule I emailed to you a week ago-”

Ricky had definitely not remembered.

“-but in case you didn’t, I will remind you”

Ricky silently thanked the spirits and the universe, and quickly took his phone out to start typing.

“At 9:30 we will attend the _People and the Environment_ conference, maybe some of that information can help you or complement your previous research…”

“Previous research?” Big Red mouthed to Ricky, just as unaware as him.

“…there will be an open section for questions, if you want to ask any. At 10:30, we will form teams, and you will go around the gallery, taking turns, to gather the answers to the questions in your book; as we saw in class, there will be four different sections; _identity_ , _authority_ , _globalization_ , and _science_ ; therefore, there will be two groups in each section at a time”

“Did you bring your book?” Big Red whispered.

“Yes” _Barely_.

“At 11:30, we’ll have lunch. 12:30, you and your groups will do the interviews you previously prepared. You can choose anyone you might consider helpful, as long as they give you relevant information. Finally, at 2:00 you’ll have the rest of the time to yourself; this part of the assignment must be finished and handed in by the end of the trip, so use your time wisely” The teacher gave the last indications.

As instructed, the group of college students followed each other all the way to the entrance of the auditorium where the conference was being held. There was so much space in there, it looked rather empty once everybody was sitting down; of course, groups of friends sitting together and leaving a full row of empty seats. Nonetheless, it still looked like they were the only ones attending the conference, so there was no problem.

Twenty minutes in, and Ricky realized he had stopped listening at some point, because he had no idea what the lecturer was on about. By the time this woman asked for questions and doubts, and a few people raised their hands, Ricky knew he had to make a bigger effort to listen.

“I’m going to the bathroom, tell me if something interesting happens” Ashlyn stood up and walked in front of her friends to get out of the row.

“Yes, Red will take notes for you” Ricky pointed at his friend, who looked clearly distressed, but still took out his pen and opened his notebook. Ashlyn laughed quietly and shook her head before walking out.

The lecturer gave the word to a guy in the front row. “Yes,” She pointed at him. “What’s your name?”

“EJ”

“Go ahead, EJ,”

“We are building a model to explore how atmospheric structure and conditions affect the severity of a pollution event, how do we examine these methods of reducing emissions from our chosen pollution sources?”

“That’s a good question-”

Ricky didn’t really know EJ that well; all he knew was that he had one of the highest GPA’s in the year, and that he could be a little pretentious with his questions sometimes. Ricky didn’t know if he liked to use fancy terms and well-trained words to enforce some sort of challenge and intimidation against the rest, or if that was just his personality.

Either way, he still rolled his eyes and elbowed Gina, who was sitting on his right side.

“There he goes again,” Ricky teased her. “Look at this man”

Gina turned to face Ricky, with a shy smile already on her face. “I have been”

As the woman stopped explaining, which Ricky wasn’t listening to, EJ seconded his own question. This made Ricky roll his head in a dramatic circle, clearly mocking the boy’s graceful choice of words. “Oh, wow”

“Hey, he’s just asking a question” Gina smacked him in the arm. “Nothing wrong with that”

Ricky laughed as a response to Gina hitting him. “How can you like this guy?”

“Look at him!” Gina whispered. “Not my fault you can’t appreciate dexterous people”

Ricky stared, not really knowing what to say. “Woah” He threw in, with a big, slow and exaggerated motion.

“Shut up” Gina added, a little annoyed and a little embarrassed.

Ricky wasn’t at all annoyed nor mad that his friend had a crush on such a guy, because when it came to people having crushes, he couldn’t really care less; his friends and everyone else could get with whomever they wanted, right? This was simply friendly banter, and he knew, especially with Gina, that if Ricky had the right to make fun of her crush, then she had all the power in the world to tease him about anything she wanted.

And it wasn’t long before Gina pulled out something of her own.

“You like weird boys” Ricky added.

“And you like weird girls”

“I don’t like anyone right now; you don’t know that” Ricky took a sip of his water.

“Maybe not right now, but I’ve met every girl you’ve ever liked, and they’re all weirdos, you can’t make fun of EJ”

By the time the conference was over and everybody started walking out, Ricky wished nothing from the conference had been all that important, because he had spent most of it either talking to his friends, or staring at the ceiling not really knowing what he was hearing. He really had to work on taking school more seriously; high school had ended months ago, and college was very different; but _old habits die hard_ , he supposed.

Once outside, Mr. Davies called out all the team leaders, and Ricky had totally forgotten about that little detail. Still, he had to walk to the front of the group trying to hide a face that said _I really don’t want to be here_ , unlike Gina, who couldn’t stop smiling, clearly comfortable in her natural habitat.

“These guys right here will each have a colored badge” Mr. Davies announced as he went across the line and pinned a small circle on the leaders’ shirts. Ricky looked down at his green badge. Mrs. Patel will go around with a bag, you’ll take out a paper from it, and whatever color you get, you’ll match it to the team leader who has that color, and you’ll have a group”

The school year hadn’t started all that long ago, and Ricky was hoping nobody had already placed him in that box of students who are not doing that well and don’t take their work seriously. He was hoping with all his strength that people wouldn’t be disappointed to be in his team, or that at least, they’d know how to hide it, or fake being glad they were with him. He started seeing smiley faces approaching Gina and some of the other leaders, and he couldn’t dare look forward in case people were getting close to him with a bummed expression.

Before he could predict it, and before he could be aware of it, Ricky started feeling his heart beating faster, to the point where he could hear it, and his breath getting uneven, harder to take deep breaths and harder to let them go. He thought he might be-

“Let’s make a deal, I’ll take your badge and you take my paper”

Ricky had been so caught up in what he thought was about to happen, that he hadn’t noticed when he walked up to him.

There, he saw EJ, taller than him, bright eyes and sharp jawline; staring directly at his eyes and holding out his green paper and a confident face.

“Oh, thank God” Ricky took off his badge quickly and handed it to the guy, who instantly accepted it with a wide smile.

Ricky knew EJ would be the kind of guy who would not accept not to be the leader of a group, and that kind of ambition would be enough to make him want to make fun of the guy, but at the time, he couldn’t have cared in the slightest, and he was too busy thanking him instead.

He just really hoped not a lot of people had noticed the switch, since he didn’t want to be perceived as the guy who didn’t think he could do the job…

Actually, he really wanted to stop overthinking and just take a deep breath. That was not the moment.

He casually watched as EJ pinned the badge onto his shirt and brushed the fabric off with his hand.

“Anything I should know?” EJ asked.

“If there is, I don’t know it” Ricky responded truthfully. This made EJ breathe out a relaxed smile.

“Okay, good” The guy looked down at his pin one more time, and then walked away to start gathering his group, and Ricky followed.

It didn’t take him long to start getting things in order and start dividing tasks and setting up strategies like he had been thinking about them all week. He had made a plan to divide the information between the 8 people who were in the team, and then they could revise it together and join forces, in EJ’s words, which sounded pretty smart in Ricky’s head at the time. If he dared being honest, it was really neat to have someone tell him what to do instead of trying to figure it out for himself, and if this tall man he barely knew was doing it willingly and for free, he’d take it.

The group spent the next half an hour collecting information to answer the questions in their booklets, while EJ had assigned the interviews to himself, probably distrusting everyone else with the task. Ricky was completely okay with that choice; therefore, without much effort, he dedicated his time to complete the work EJ had asked him to complete the best he could, because even though he didn’t always mind getting a couple answers wrong in his assignments and a few notes from his teachers, something about having his work be a part of EJ’s grade was especially intimidating.

However, that didn’t stop him from eavesdropping when other people from other teams happened to be working on the same questions, and perhaps looking over people’s papers.

Most of the assigned activities for this project were simple enough to complete, as long as he could stay focused and on track, which he had trouble with sometimes, but was managing quite fine so far. However, there was one part he wasn’t looking forward to even starting; collecting samples.

This was somewhat an environmental project; inside their social studies class, there usually came a bunch of other stuff along with it, which Ricky hadn’t considered when he chose the class, but there was not much he could do about it now, except for trying to complete his tasks as best as he could. EJ had also divided the samples they needed to get between all of them; Ricky had been wishing he could get samples from “the most ordered foods by the employees”, but someone else was quicker than him, so he got “the most ordered drinks by the employees” instead.

Therefore, after completing all his questions, he walked directly to the inside of the offices building where the coffee stand was; there was also a cafeteria right outside, but Ricky frankly believed that if he were to work there, he’d hit the coffee stand before if he wanted a drink.

Wanting to get it over with, he approached the coffee stand without being easily noticed by the machines’ operator, as she had been staring at her phone. Once Ricky was standing in front of her, though, she had to pull up her own face.

“Hey,” Ricky started, awkwardly.

“Hello” The girl smiled lightly. “What can I get for you?”

“Uhm, I-” Ricky looked around the stand to look for a menu or a sign, or at least some pictures of the drinks, although there were none. “I came with the school group, and I’m collecting some data-”

“Ah” She exclaimed before he could even finish. “You’re here for the free samples, too?”

“Yeah” Ricky exhaled, thankful she had saved him from much explaining.

“Which ones do you want?” The girl asked as she turned to the right and started grabbing some small cups and lids.

“I need to know what the most popular drinks are, maybe like ten”

The girl laid out a few small, clear, plastic cups, and placed their lids on the side so Ricky could apply them himself. “Well, there’s only coffee here, so I could probably serve you one of each” She pointed at the different kegs. “Black, espresso, and decaf, and you could also get an americano or a red eye”

Ricky stared at his scarce options as he contemplated how he didn’t understand what those names meant.

“If you want to get anything other than that, you should go to the cafeteria, you can check for sodas, flavored waters and milk-based stuff, no alcohol, though”

“Oh” Ricky thought about it. “I thought people would come here more, since it’s right here”

“Smart” The girl smiled as she poured some coffee into the small cups. “They do, so you’re right” She handed two coffee-filled cups to Ricky. ”This one’s black, this one’s decaf” She raised each one as she called them by name.

Ricky took them at a time and placed the lids she had given him on top. He quickly turned to grab his backpack, and without taking it off his shoulders, he opened the zipper and reached in to grab his pen. He hoped it would work for labeling the cups, which it did, kind of.

The girl handed Ricky two more cups. “Espresso, americano”, and as Ricky did the same with those two, the girl turned around to fill up one last cup, “Red eye”

“What’s in this one?” Ricky asked as he wrote on the side of the cup.

“It’s coffee and espresso mixed”

“Is it strong?”

The girl gave him a weak, unclear nod. “Not the strongest”

Ricky piled up each one of his small cups, one on top of the other, planning on carrying them all like that all the way to the cafeteria.

“Thank you so much” Ricky grabbed his samples and held them close to his chest.

“No problem” The girl smiled one more time, that one being a wider, longer one, and Ricky was happy he was just leaving. He had no interest in getting himself in uncomfortable situations anytime soon. “Those are your top 5, in the order I gave them to you-”

Ricky clearly didn’t remember the order.

“And If I were you, I would get more than ten, it’s always good to do more than asked, speaks good about you to your teachers”

Ricky thanked her for the advice with a smile of his own.

“Do you need a bag for those?” She pointed at the containers on his chest.

“No, thank you, I’m all good”

It felt difficult to turn around and break eye contact with the girl; not because he had found her alluring, but because her stare was so strong and piercing, it felt physically heavy to remove his eyes, hence he tried to aid himself by turning his body abruptly and walking faster to get away.

“Ricky, hey, do you-”

But it didn’t end all that well.

Ricky stared at the ground after he felt that strong clash against his own body, his freshly collected samples, all spilled on the ground, and its empty cups rolling around.

“I’m sorry” He looked up after matching the gasp he heard as soon as they collided. Clearly, the ground wasn’t the only place the coffee had been spilled on.

Out of everything he could’ve spilled on someone, it had to be coffee. And, out of everyone he could’ve spilled it on, it had to be him. The guy Ricky knew picked out his outfits delicately.

Guess he couldn’t escape an uncomfortable situation, after all.

“Uhm- no, I’m sorry” EJ looked down at his own shirt with an open mouth. “I came at you very suddenly”

Ricky’s late instinct was to start rubbing his own arm against EJ’s chest, trying to make it better, somehow; which didn’t do much and only ended up messing up the sleeve of his sweatshirt as well. “Man, I’m sorry about your shirt”

Honestly, if it had been anybody else- but no. It had to EJ. And Ricky had to feel worse about it than with any other person. He didn’t know much about EJ, but by watching him so far that day, and losing count over how many times he checked himself out in any window-reflections they walked aside, he knew he loved that shirt.

“Uh- don’t worry about it” EJ rubbed his shirt with his hands a couple times, also defeated by seeing there was nothing he could do, either.

Taking a break from looking at the guy, he looked down at where his project laid, and bent down to start cleaning it up. However, as soon as he touched the first cup, the girl from the coffee stand spoke up.

“Leave it, I’ll get it cleaned up”

“Are you sure?” Ricky asked, turning to face her.

“Yeah” She replied positively, which convinced Ricky just fine. “I’ll pour you some other cups” She added while grabbing the mop behind her.

“Thank you so much” Ricky answered. “I’ll pay for them”

“No, I’ll pay” EJ intervened.

“No need,” She refused both offers, looking at Ricky, and then at EJ, back at Ricky and back at EJ. “Not a problem”

“Thank you” Ricky said once more.

“Yeah, thank you” EJ did the same thing.

With that, Ricky turned back to look at the guy in front of him, who looked clearly uncomfortable standing there, maybe just as much as Ricky, _or maybe not as much_ , since Ricky was in a shocked-panicked mode, and all he wanted was to reverse time a few seconds to see this coming.

“Uhm-” Ricky started. “I can give my shirt, I’m sure it’ll fit you” He quickly suggested, that being the only solution he saw in his head, and the only other thing he could say other than repeating how sorry he was.

It also took Ricky by surprise when EJ accepted with no hesitation. Surely, he’d expected him to refuse at first, and that it’d take a bit more convincing for him to take the offer, or that he wouldn’t even take it at all; but the guy had actually looked relieved after listening to Ricky’s proposal.

There were not many people Ricky knew who were as direct as this guy.

“Oh- okay” Ricky tried not to sound surprised. “Uhm- let’s go to the bathroom” He pointed behind EJ, in the restrooms’ direction.

“Yeah” EJ responded, and turned around to start walking.

Ricky maybe took the opportunity to let his astonished face out, where EJ couldn’t see it.

EJ entered before Ricky, and he stood in front of the mirror right away. Ricky watched as the guy ran a hand through his hair and stared at his own face for a few seconds, before he started unbuttoning his shirt. Ricky took that as his cue to start undressing, too. He removed his sweatshirt, which felt a bit wet on the sleeve; then, he continued by taking off his short-sleeved, plain, dark blue T-shirt.

“Here,” He handed it to EJ, who was just finishing up his last button.

“Thanks” He took it, and placed it on the sink for a second so he could remove his own shirt entirely.

And of course. _Of course,_ EJ had to own arms and abs like that.

Ricky watched through the mirror as EJ put on the T-shirt, and Ricky remembered he had to put his sweatshirt back on.

EJ unpinned the green badge out of his wet shirt, and proceeded to pin it back onto his new one. This man fixed the T-shirt and his hair, staring at himself for a while longer; Ricky staring at him in disbelief, sure that the guy wouldn’t catch him staring, because he was too busy staring at himself.

“Thanks- for your shirt” He held his wet and stained one in his hands.

“Anytime” Ricky wanted to punch himself for not choosing a better way to say _you’re welcome_. EJ smiled at him, perhaps picking up on it, but no mentions of anything.

“So,” Ricky found a way to defuse the growing tension. “What were you going to tell me?”

“Right,” EJ started to explain.

After that massive chaos, Ricky and EJ went back to collect the second batch of coffee samples, and parted ways before Ricky headed to the cafeteria to collect the rest. EJ still had his own set of challenges to get done.

By the time he had accomplished most of the stuff in his list, he had already received a few texts from Gina, who was asking if his team was done. He answered to the first message when he got it, but he ignored the rest so he could actually get his job finished, not before reading one last message, which said to tell her when he was done.

Ricky sat down next to EJ, and a few other people from the group, and he watched as he grabbed everyone’s papers and combined it into one pile. They were still waiting for some more people to arrive so they could have their complete work ready to hand in at the end of their trip, and Ricky was glad he hadn’t been the last one. He hated the idea of being the weak link in a team who the rest had to fall behind for.

While they waited, Ricky listened as EJ talked about his grades in other smaller projects they had done for the same class, and how he smoothly changed the conversation to what his high school experience had been like, which was all related to how big of a star he was and how many classes he excelled at. If it had been any other day, and maybe in another mental state where Ricky wasn’t feeling so uneasy and insecure, he would’ve made a snarky comment.

Eventually, everyone arrived, EJ thanked everyone, kept the pile of papers in his backpack, and walked away. Ricky was left with a weird feeling after that experience, but glad it was over.

Ricky took his phone out of his pocket, quickly going back to read those texts he had avoided before.

“ _I already finished_ ”

“ _Red’s team still has some interviews left, but someone else is taking care of that_ ”

“ _We’re in the benches next to the fountain we saw when we arrived_ ”

Ricky started typing. “ _Are you still there?_ ” He stared at his phone until he saw a response. After reading an affirmative answer from Gina, he began heading over there. One foot in front of the other, like he knew how to do. Except-

that the closer he got to where his friends were sitting, the more he could make out who they were sitting next to, and the harder it became to walk and breathe at the same time. He didn’t want to think of himself as a stalker, but he could recognize that sweater and that ponytail anywhere.

With his heavy shoes and his wabbly legs, he did what it took to get himself to reach the table.

“Hey, guys” He attempted to say, as clearly as he could, while he slid his legs over the bench.

Thankfully, the group had been invested in their own conversation, and none of them seemed to have noticed how bewildered Ricky looked. His friends greeted him back, still some laughter ghosting in their voices, and although listening to them was nothing new to his ears, there was one special voice that quaked his eardrums and made his skin shiver for a split second.

“Hi Ricky” Nini said hello along everyone else, turning to look at him directly, with bright eyes and a wide smile, like always.

Ricky had to make sure his own voice would come out when he decided to speak. “Hey, Nini”

“How did your team do?” Big Red asked Ricky, who was glad he’d done before he continued to stare at Nini longer than needed and completely looking like a fool. “Were they sharp and quick like Gina’s team, or were they dumb and totally unhelpful like mine?”

Ricky threw a smile at his friend. “Definitely sharp and quick”

“You guys are so lucky,” Big Red looked a bit disappointed and annoyed. “Out of everyone I could’ve been partnered with, I was left with those who couldn’t care less about getting the work done; they made me feel smart”

“So, you haven’t finished?” Ricky asked, feeling a little worried for his friend, considering they didn’t have much time left until they had to return to the school.

Big Red sighed. “Yeah, I panicked and ran to Ash when I saw her” He turned to look at his girlfriend, and she smiled, not before giving him an eye-roll. “This girl, Kyla, from her team, agreed to pass on some of their information from her interviews to my team. Gordon is over there copying everything” He lifted his arm and pointed at said guy.

Not long after that, Ricky noticed how Gina turned around to get her bag. She went through the stuff inside for a good minute, simply to close it and drop it back to the ground.

“What time is it?” Gina asked. “My phone’s dead, and I didn’t bring my charger”

Nini, sitting right next to her with her own phone already in her hands, looked at the time with the push of a button. “It’s two thirty”

“Oh,” Gina reacted with slight content. “We still have half an hour, do you want to see what they sell in the cafeteria?”

“Yes!” Big Red and Ricky exclaimed at the same time. “I’m starving!” Big Red added.

“We did have lunch before” Ashlyn grabbed his hand.

“Yeah, like two hours ago”

With that said, the group stood up and left their table to go to the cafeteria. The place didn’t offer that many options, but those things in the menu were the same things that Ricky was used to eating in his days of convenience with fast food; easy and tasty. The guys let the girls order first, and then laughed when both Big Red and him ordered the exact same; hamburgers, fries and a cup of flavored water.

Each person holding their food, they stepped outside the cafeteria when they didn’t see an available place for all of them to sit together, so they walked to the safe outside benches they had been sitting at originally, which were, fortunately, still available.

For the next few minutes, the group engaged in an easy conversation, even Nini, which Ricky still had no idea why she was there spending time with him and his friends, was telling stories about her high school, and whenever she laughed, Ricky could physically feel his burger tasting better, the wind sounding chipper and the colors shining brighter-

So, yeah. Ricky had a crush on this girl. He’d had one ever since all the freshmen had their initiation assembly over two months ago. While Ricky had settled for sitting in the back row, trying to keep a low profile, as he always did, he saw this girl who moved with spark and enthusiasm walking straight to the front row, and she definitely caught his eye. Ever since, he easily spotted her in crowds; initially wondering what her name was, who she was friends with, and why in the world they didn’t have any classes together; that was until one magical day, for some unknown reason, Nini moved one of her own, and suddenly, calculus became his favorite class, because it was the only fifty minutes of the day when he could hear what her voice sounded like, and he could presence her funny and bubbly personality; and outside those fifty minutes, they had never coincided; not even once.

Yet there she was, casually hanging out with him and his friends, unaware of what was happening inside Ricky’s head.

On the other hand, there was Ricky, trying not to faint, wanting to say something to her, but not being able to decide what wasn’t going to make him look like an overly obsessed boy. Many times, he opened his mouth in hopes he could make some smooth contribution to the conversation that would make Nini find him interesting, but all those times, nothing came out. It was like his vocal cords closed and his brain made him yawn instead.

Luckily, without establishing if it was good or bad luck, the last time Ricky tried talking to her, another voice, from another person who wasn’t in the table with them, entered their conversation, and it was calling Ricky’s name.

The guy turned around by reflex, and he saw EJ, the tall guy he had been working with in their project just an hour before that, also, still wearing the blue shirt.

“Hey, EJ” Ricky replied.

“Can I- talk to you for a sec?” EJ moved his head to the side, pointing there with his thumb as well, asking Ricky if he could follow him.

“Yeah” He replied surely.

EJ gave him a smile and started walking a few steps away, waiting for Ricky to catch up with him.

“I’ll be back” Ricky stood up from the table, untangling his legs from sitting on the bench, and he walked toward EJ.

“What’s up?”

Before EJ said anything, the guy handed him a big pile of papers, all perfectly organized and put together in a thick folder; a few clips and colorful post-it’s here and there. Ricky took a look at it, and saw it was their complete field research for the day, with everyone’s parts included and their interviews catalogued. It seemed like EJ had taken the extra time to make it look extra pretty.

“Here,” EJ also handed him the green pin he had been wearing.

Ricky watched him for a second, feeling confused. “Why are you giving it back?”

“You are the original leader of the group, you should be the one who hands it in”

Ricky have him a weird smile, because he still didn’t quite understand why EJ was giving him the badge back.

“Also, Mr. Davies saw me wearing it and asked me why I had it, since he’s the one who assigned the leaders, so I told him I was just keeping it safe while you went for lunch” EJ looked a bit embarrassed.

Ricky held the project under his arm and used both his hands to pin the badge back on his sweatshirt. “Okay” He laughed. “I’m sorry, I should’ve warned you about him,” Ricky started wondering if that was the kind of thing EJ had been expecting him to clear out when he asked if there was anything he should’ve known, and it made him feel a bit embarrassed himself.

“No” EJ brushed it off completely. “It wasn’t a big deal”

“Okay” Ricky nodded.

After that, neither of them said anything else, and Ricky started feeling the awkwardness in the silence, so he pressed his lips together in an uncomfortable fake smile. “Well, thanks” He turned around to leave.

However, before he could actually exit the conversation, EJ grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Wait- uhm-”

Ricky turned back to look at him.

“I also wanted to say sorry, for how I came at you in the morning, I didn’t mean to take the opportunity from you, I just- wanted it myself, I guess”

If it weren’t for the fact that Ricky hadn’t exactly seen it as EJ snatching his opportunity of being a school group leader, instead of actually saving him from his misery, he wouldn’t have been able to look past that awful form of apology. Regardless, Ricky was not mad nor resentful toward it, so he just smiled lightly. “That’s okay,” He added. “I wasn’t too excited about it, anyway”

EJ returned Ricky’s smile with one of his own. “Okay, cool” He replied, slowly moving his feet backwards, signaling he was thinking about leaving this time. “Don’t forget to hand that in” He pointed at the papers under Ricky’s arm.

“I won’t” Ricky threw in another grin. “I promise”

“Okay,” EJ mirrored Ricky’s smile. “Okay, then, see you later”

“See you” Ricky waved with his other arm as EJ continued to step backwards and eventually turned around. Ricky himself made his way back to his friends, shaking his head a little in disbelief of all these thoughts he had about this man. Was EJ for real? He guessed he really was, after spending a whole morning with the guy, Ricky was amazed at his cunning character.

As Ricky returned to his table and his friends, he noticed that, although they were still talking to each other, there were two things that made him feel uneasy. First, Gina was looking at him with her mouth open and her bright, wide eyes with furrowed eyebrows, kind of scary and intimidating. Second, Nini was not there anymore, which made him feel him beaten up, as he had missed his chance to talk to her.

“Where’s Nini?” Was the first thing he asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“She’s making sure our project’s finished, before we go” Gina answered his first question, her eyebrows back to a normal position, but still a lot of surprise in her face. “What were you talking to EJ about? Since when do you guys talk?”

“He just gave me our project so I can hand it in” Ricky answered. “Wait, does that mean you were in Nini’s team? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were in EJ’s team?” Gina asked a little louder.

“He’s technically in _my_ team. Why didn’t you tell me Nini was with you?”

“Why didn’t _you_ tell me EJ was with _you_?”

“What’s happening?” Big Red asked before either of them could keep going.

Ashlyn looked at Big Red and agreed. “Yeah, why are you being weird?”

Ricky was the first one to break the staring contest, turning his sight to Red and Ashlyn. “Gina has a crush on EJ”

“Knowing that, you could’ve texted me!” Gina added to the explanation. “I would’ve changed groups or something”

“I don’t think you could’ve”

“And,” Ashlyn stepped in, interrupting them one more time. “Why are you asking about Nini?” She asked Ricky.

He fell silent.

He hadn’t told anyone about his crush; and not because he didn’t want them to know, it was because- if he said it out loud, even just to himself, then it would become real- it would become a _real_ crush, and he would start thinking about it- more than he already did. He didn’t want that to happen; he didn’t want to be besotted by a girl and have it ruin him. Or, he didn’t want to be aware of it, at least.

Nevertheless, it didn’t matter anymore, because not even a second after Ashlyn asked him about it, he felt Gina’s eyes burning a hole into his.

“You like Nini!”

Ricky didn’t deny it, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it, either.

“You are full of crap, with your ‘ _I don’t like anyone right_ now’ garbage” Gina complained.

Yeah, Ricky couldn’t disagree.

“Anyway,” Gina started to fold up her trash on the table, getting it ready to be thrown out when they left. “Tell me about EJ” She changed her previous topic and let the grudge go, which Ricky was thankful for. “What’s he like?”

“Nothing we don’t already know” Ricky started. “He’s ridiculous”

“Yeah, he is” Ashlyn laughed, agreeing with him.

Gina quickly turned to look at her, about to ask the same thing that came to Ricky’s mind. “You know EJ?” Of course, Gina asked it with a lot more commotion.

Ashlyn looked at them as if they were asking the dumbest question she’d heard.

“Of course,” Here it came- “He’s my cousin”

“What?” Surprise came short to Gina’s tone. Neither Big Red nor Ricky said anything, but Ricky was just as dazed, and Big Red was too, probably. “Why didn’t I know this? Ashlyn!”

“But-” Ricky stepped in. “You’re so nice”

“I know EJ can be a lot,” She started to defend the guy. “But he’s not bad, he’s just- too self-obsessed”

“Ash, can you hook me up?” Gina wasted no time.

“Sorry,” Ashlyn took a sip of her water bottle. “He doesn’t like it when I meddle with that stuff”

“Does that mean the truck we left parked at the school is EJ’s?” Big Red looked distressed.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to the car, it’s fine” Ashlyn replied.

A few minutes later, after that conversation took a different turn, the group picked up their respective trash and belongings, and they left their table. Getting everything ready to leave, the four of them walked over their original meeting point, where they met with the rest of their classmates and their teachers. They listened as Mr. Davies thanked them for their effort _and stuff_ , and asked everyone to head back to their buses.

This time, Big Red and Ashlyn sat together, so Ricky and Gina sat down next to each other, across from them. However, just like most school trips, the way back was a lot less sprightly and loud, because mostly everyone was done and tired, even if it was only the middle of the afternoon. They weren’t the exception, because this time, they were not screaming at each other across the hall.

Ricky watched as his friend laid his head on his girlfriend’s shoulder, sharing a pair of earphones, which he thought was actually pretty cute.

Also, Ricky should’ve known Gina had been wanting to talk to Ricky alone, so this rather quiet setting was perfect for her.

“Ricky, listen to this” She demanded. At first, Ricky thought she meant she wanted him to listen to a song, or something she wanted to show him, but considering Gina’s phone was dead, and she was staring intensely at him, something else was about to happen.

“I have a solution to both our problems”

“What problems?” Ricky shouldn’t have asked.

“My EJ problem and your Nini problem”

“What’s the problem?”

“Dude, that neither of us are dating them”

Ricky wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what Gina was about to say, but he was sure he didn’t want to _not_ hear it, so he didn’t stop her. Whatever it was.

“And by the way,” Gina stopped herself before she could deliver the big plan. “If you had told me about Nini, I could’ve helped you sooner, we have a lot of classes together-”

Ricky had never seen Gina and Nini hanging out together before, considering he was always lowkey looking for her when there were a lot of people around, and he himself spent most of his free hours with Gina. But well- there’s a lot he didn’t know.

“-but now that I know, I can” She gave him a bright, yet mischievous smile.

“How are you going to help me?” Ricky asked, feeling doubtful, confused, a tad still surprised they were having that conversation to begin with, and also, a little bit entertained.

“You know, I start hanging out with Nini a little more, I casually bring you up in the conversation, I talk about how nice you are, stuff like that”

Ricky wanted to believe it’d be that easy. “Wouldn’t that be a little too obvious?”

Gina tilted her head with a frown on the side. “Nobody’s ever gotten a date by not being obvious, that’s the point” She added. “She needs to know you like her, _but_ we make her like you too”

“Okay,”

“And you do the same for me, you get to hang out with EJ and then casually bring me up in your conversations, talk about how nice I am, you know?”

“Okay, but- I don’t even talk to EJ”

“You were talking just now, of course you talk to EJ, he was even wearing your T-shirt”

Ricky didn’t know she had noticed.

“Yeah, but that was nothing, we’re not friends, we don’t hang out”

“Not yet”

Ricky sighed, not entirely liking the plan, still cagey about the idea of ever hanging out with EJ and being his friend. Again, that guy was not someone he’d be friends with on a normal day. However, that wasn’t the only thing in question at the moment.

“Say I do get to hang out with EJ, and I talk about you and all, then what do we do? Or, are we supposed to make them fall in love only by talking about each other?”

“No, of course not” Gina turned around to check nobody was listening to them, because at some point during their plotting, they had raised their volume, and although they were not planning a money heist, it still felt a little ambush-y to be talking about aloud. “We set up a group date, we go out together, all four of us, we could even invite Ashlyn and Red, and maybe some of Nini’s friends, so it doesn’t look too weird, and then we find a moment to hang out with them alone”

Ricky thought about it for a second.

To be fair, it wasn’t that big of a bad idea. He could totally see the _group hang_ as an excuse for finding some time to talk to Nini. Maybe that way he could start getting to know her, perhaps even allowing _her_ to know _him_.

It was still weird; looking back to the past months, where he hadn’t even begun to consider the idea of actually pursuing his crush. But then- it wasn’t all that crazy to think about. Ricky was also hoping that it wasn’t the rush of the moment speaking, and that he wouldn’t regret it later.

Ricky didn’t say anything, and Gina kept looking at him, rushing him with her eyes to make him respond.

And still, it took Ricky a longer second to say anything.

“We can at least try” Gina pushed a little harder. “If it gets too weird, okay, it didn’t work, and we let it go”

Ricky was still looking at her, unsure of what to say.

“Pleeease” Gina pressed her hands together and tried to push it one more time. “Ricky pleeease”

That’s around the time Ricky started to give in. He wasn’t completely in love with the idea, but was Gina giving him a valid reason not to do it?

“Okay, yeah” Ricky finally accepted. “Why not”

Gina squealed a little too loud.


	2. Chapter 2

College was great; even better than he had imagined it to be. Harder? Yes, it was harder than he had expected. Crazier? Of course, it turned out to be even crazier than he had hoped.

Ricky wasn’t lying when he said he hadn’t talked to his mom in over a year. His couple last semesters in high school had been challenging for him and his family, and although he was trying to do better, it was still difficult to feel connected to his mom, especially now, with a couple of months of him being away and not getting to see her at all.

Whenever he sat down and thought about calling her, he would stare at his phone for long minutes before he actually got the nerve to dial her number; however, most of the times he never called. And the times he did call, she never picked up. Ricky came to understand that there was a pattern regarding his calling schedule; he always called around the same evening hours, and she never picked up; therefore, Ricky was always comfortable calling, because he knew his mom was not going to answer. Later every day, she would call him back, but he never picked up either.

It was a routine for them; although neither of them was talking to each other to actually know they were aware of it.

It was a routine Ricky broke a few days after his school trip; because instead of looking at his phone for hours debating between calling her or not, he was staring at his phone wondering if he should call EJ- or not.

Nothing had happened since he agreed to Gina’s plan, and he was sure she hadn’t been talking to Nini about him, either, but the arrangement was still standing, and he still had no idea how to start approaching the guy. How was he supposed to lure him into his friend when he didn’t even know how to talk to him alone?

The thing is, Ricky didn’t even have EJ’s phone number to begin with, but Gina did, for some reason. When she sent it to Ricky, he was, indeed, surprised that she had it and wasn’t using it herself.

 _It’d be weird if I texted him, he doesn’t know I have his number_ , Gina had told him, which was exactly the same way Ricky felt. He couldn’t just call him up in the middle of the day; or any time, for that matter. Still, Gina was expecting him to use the number, and although Ricky was ninety-nine percent sure he wasn’t going to, he still stared at the recently added contact, because it was easier than staring at his mom’s, anyway.

Nevertheless, whatever he decided to do, or not to do, was cut short too early when he heard a knock on his dorm’s room. Although, whoever was knocking quickly stepped inside without waiting for him to allow them to.

“Hey,” Big Red walked into his room and sat down on his own bed, across from Ricky’s.

“Hi, Red”

Okay, but why would he knock in his own bedroom?

“Guess what I just heard” The guy excitedly ran and stood in front of Ricky.

“What?” Ricky smiled as an instant reaction to said excitement.

“Have you ever been to the _Racoustic Roof_ bar that’s like two blocks away?”

Ricky thought about it before he answered, “I’ve seen it from the outside a few times, but I’ve never been inside, why?”

“Ashlyn and I were hanging out with these guys during lunch, and they were talking about going there today because they had a couple friends who were playing there tonight, and apparently they’re very good”

“You want to go there?” Ricky asked, because that was what he thought Big Red might’ve been suggesting.

“No, we’re doing something else,” He replied quickly. “The point is, this place has live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, and anyone can just go and sign up a day before and you can play or sing, or whatever”

“And you want to?”

“No, dude! I was thinking about you!”

Ricky’s eyes widened at the realization, which was half-good, half-not-so-good. When it came to music and playing his guitar, and maybe even singing, yeah, that was something he loved; he might even say that was what he enjoyed the most. The days when it was just him and his chords and lyrics, those were the magical days, even after a rough time.

However, when it came to doing it in front of people, that was something he hadn’t quite mastered yet. He had done it a couple times before, but he had, both times, ended up wishing he could’ve done a better job, because he let his nerves get the best of him instead of successfully fighting them; and both times, he had stepped onto the stage with his head spinning and his voice shaking; the room roaring in his eardrums even though it was completely silent.

He did want to be able to one day, entirely nonchalantly step into the spotlight and sing his heart out without his anxious thought eating him alive, but that day felt far from present.

And Big Red knew, but he still tried to share the opportunity with him.

“Think about it,” He continued when he saw no response from Ricky, who nodded and smiled before his friend walked away for a second. Ricky grabbed his phone once again, and he scrolled through his contact list, just because there was nothing else he knew how to do when he was starting to feel the opposite of confident and relaxed.

He heard how Big Red closed the door from his side of the closet hanging space, and he heard his footsteps walking over.

Big Red instantly stopped in front of Ricky. “This, or this?” He asked, holding two different shirts in front of him.

Ricky appreciated, _and was also saddened_ , by the change in the conversation.

Ricky looked at them, and although they both screamed _Big Red_ to him, and that’s something he loved and would never judge; they were also something he would never choose for himself.

It was hard to pick between colorful stripes under red polka dots and a whole graphic mess competing against it.

“That one” Ricky chose the colorful stripes. “Where are you going?”

“Oh” Big Red happily threw the unpicked shirt to his bed, and started changing into the other one. “Ashlyn is taking me to this party in the dorm”

“Tonight?” Ricky asked, clearly unaware of said event.

“Yeah,” Red answered with amazement. “Apparently people plan them the same day they happen, and it just happens”

Big Red sat down on his bed newly dressed.

“I love college dorm parties” He smiled while hyped up. “It’s so cool not to ask for permission or worry about your curfew-”

“Or how much you drink?” Ricky brought something up, as an inside joke.

Big Red smiled cautiously, and then nodded with a full, bright grin. “Yeah, exactly”

These guys hadn’t been to many college parties, _yet_ , because they had barely even started to experience the new university life, and because there hadn’t been that many, _yet_. However, Ricky noticed how much smaller the gap between one party and the next became over time, and he wondered if there’d be a party every day later in the year, _or the semester_.

In one of the first parties they attended together, Big Red had probably drunk too much or perhaps mixed a few more things he shouldn’t have, and Ricky would still bring it up every now on then; half making fun of his friend, half hinting him to be careful.

“Do you wanna come?”

“Yeah, why not” Ricky answered quickly.

Big Red gave him a casually thrilled smile, probably glad his friend would also go with him.

The truth was, that Ricky also liked these new college dorm parties; he could be as careless as he wanted when it came to them; he could arrive late if he wanted, and he could go to bed late, too. He could even leave early if he wasn’t feeling in the mood, as well. Also, he would occasionally attend with the sole goal of finding a certain someone in them, though he never did.

So, was he thinking about going to that party that night with _that_ also in mind? Perhaps.

Big Red stood up from his bed and walked toward the full-body mirror they shared. He played a little bit with his shirt, opening and closing the top button, trying to decide how it looked better. “What are you going to wear?”

Ricky looked at himself from where he was sitting. “Uhm- _this_?”

His friend turned back to look at his outfit and simply shrugged; and Ricky didn’t know what it meant. “What does that mean?”

“That’s what you dress like every day”

“What’s wrong with what I dress like?”

“Nothing” Big Red approached him, seemingly worried he’d be taking it the wrong way. “But you’re going out, and you never know what might happen tonight-”

Before Big Red could continue with that thought, they both turned to look at the door when they heard it open again.

“Hey, guys” Gina stepped into the room, and stood next to Big Red. “What are you lecturing Ricky for?”

“He’s telling me why I shouldn’t be wearing _this_ for the party tonight-”

“I was telling him he’d never know what the night could bring, maybe he could find _Nini_ , and you need to look good for that”

“Oh, absolutely” Gina agreed automatically.

Ricky was still not used to his friends talking about his crush on Nini so evidently and out loud; he hadn’t planned on telling them about it anytime soon, but now they knew, and of course they’d start acting that way; because that’s what friends do.

“Let me choose your outfit” Gina didn’t ask; she suggested excitedly.

“Yes!” Big Red seconded the idea.

Ricky protested right away, believing it was unnecessary and maybe a bit too much. “That’s really not necessary” He tried to scoot away on his bed, almost protecting himself.

“But it’ll be fun” Gina pouted, sitting down close to Ricky, recovering the distance. “I promise I won’t go overboard”

“No, really, you don’t have to” Ricky insisted.

“Ricky” Gina called his name firmly. “Just for tonight, please-”

Ricky was slightly shaking his head, knowing very well, that if he let her do it, she’d want to do it again some other time and this would definitely not be _just for tonight_.

“Then you can continue dressing so- familiar”

“Okay, now you’re just attacking my outfits”

“Just tonight, please”

“ _Just_ tonight”

“Yes, just tonight”

Once again in the same week, Gina left Ricky rolling his eyes and sighing in defeat as she squealed in excitement.

She left the bed and walked straight to some cabinets. She opened the first drawer, and Ricky enjoyed it as she looked extremely confused.

“Those are my clothes” Big Red intervened.

“Right, I knew that” Gina brushed it off with a smile and walked to the other side of the room. She opened the first drawer as well, and without making any surprised faces, she started going through it.

Instead of watching Gina and waiting for her to sort something out, Ricky grabbed his phone from behind him, where he had left it just minutes before. Unlocking his screen, he saw EJ’s name, as it had been the last thing he had been doing in his phone before Red had entered the room, and- perhaps out of habit, because that’s what he always did at that time of day, he swiped on his name, and the call was sent.

It didn’t, however, click on his mind completely; what he had done. He even stared at the name on his screen for a few seconds, waiting for the call to never be picked up. Until he realized-

It was not his mom who he was calling and expecting not to pick up; it was EJ.

Ricky panicked silently, careful not to alert his friends that he had done something wrong, and he ended the call quickly before it was answered. As soon as he hung up, he felt the panic stopping as a hot wave of electricity powering off his body from head to toe; it was okay- he didn’t pick up, and EJ didn’t have his number saved in his phone, so he would never know it was him.

“Here”

Ricky felt a heavy piece of fabric landing on his face. He looked down to see his black, slim-fit jeans, which he didn’t wear too often as they were usually ignored and chosen under his usual ripped, washed out blue ones.

Ricky looked up and watched as his friend walked over to him with a few different shirts in her hands, and a dark gray jacket, which he was surprised to remember he even owned, over her shoulder.

“I want to see you in a plain, short sleeved, with this jacket,” She also threw the jacket at him. “But I don’t know which color would look the best”

Gina threw some of the shirts over her newly-freed shoulder, and started unfolding the shirts she had chosen as options.

“You know, white is always a good option, but it might look too simple,”

Ricky wasn’t sure anything could look _too simple_ with those jeans and that jacket. Nonetheless, he was thankful Gina wasn’t choosing anything crazy for the shirt. There had been a moment of internal panic when she had opened Big Red’s drawer first, when a thought had popped into Ricky’s mind, that maybe Gina would want to dress him in Big Red’s funky clothing.

“I took the black one out just to see how it looked, but I don’t want everything to be dark,”

“I’ve never seen Ricky wear an all-black outfit before” Big Red added with a bit of mischief in his mouth and suggestion plastered all over.

Gina was infected by the same sense of friskiness; she opened her mouth in shock as she stared at Big Red. However, that face was quickly replaced by her normal, relaxed one. “Me neither, but I’m not really into it,”

“And red” Gina let out. “I meant the shirt” She clarified when Big Red replied to the call. “This one would really pop out”

Ricky watched as Gina laid out, which was basically a throw on the bed, the shirts. “What do you think? You choose”

Before Ricky could even look at his options and make a decision, and he should mention that he had no idea which one to choose, because they all looked equally as _out of his comfort zone_ with the rest of the outfit she’d picked out, Big Red has also made his opinion known.

“I don’t like any of these,” Because the outfit wasn’t funky enough for him. “Why don’t you wear my purple galaxy sneakers? They’d look so cool!”

Yeah, no.

Ricky appreciated the sentiment, though.

“You’d need to wear a purple shirt with that,” Gina continued before Ricky could kindly decline Big Red’s offer.

“I don’t have anything purple, but I don’t-“

“What about blue?” Gina asked, cutting him off before he could finish.

“-uh, yeah- I have a blue shirt, but-”

Once again, Gina cut him off, “I’ll get that” She returned to open Ricky’s drawers, where she looked for said blue shirt. Gina looked around, under the bottom shirts; she opened and closed the drawers, going back from one to the other. “I can’t find it,”

And then, Ricky remembered.

“Oh, yeah” He started. “EJ has it”

Gina already knew that Ricky had lent EJ his blue shirt the day of the trip, hence she didn’t look a surprised as she would’ve been if she hadn’t known; later that day she had asked him about said exchange in clothing, and Ricky had to explain what had happened. Come to think of it, he had totally forgotten about the shirt, and if he was being honest, he wasn’t too attached to it to even ask for him to return it; he could always get another one, or one similar to it-

and then Ricky thought,

maybe he did have an excuse to talk to EJ, after all…

“EJ still has your shirt?” Gina asked, clearly not interested about the shirt anymore.

“Yeah,” Ricky grabbed his phone and stood up from his bed, an idea starting to dance inside his head. “I guess the red shirt will do just fine, and I’ll just wear my black converse, thanks Red”

Ricky walked over to Gina, where she was still standing with her hands inside the drawer. “I think I have a plan”

Gina didn’t say anything, but she probably knew what Ricky meant.

“All I needed was a reason to talk to EJ without it being weird, I can ask him to give me my shirt back and when I see him, I can find a way to bring you up and start getting you inside his head,”

“Yes!” Gina’s eyes had been growing wider with every word. “That’s perfect”

“And now that I’m making a move on him, it’s your turn to talk to Nini about me” Ricky realized he had said it too proudly, with a cheeky grin thrown in and everything.

“Look who’s now super invested” Gina pointed out exactly what was going through Ricky’s mind.

Suddenly, Ricky found himself more enthusiastic about their plan than before; now he had a more realistic, graspable goal, and he couldn’t wait to complete the first task he had assigned for himself. Asking EJ to return his shirt would mean he’d need to see him, which meant he’d be able to talk to him about Gina, which would make Gina feel the pressure to return the favor and she would finally talk to Nini about him.

That’s how he found himself smiling as he was typing his first text message to EJ; possibly even shaking with excitement and nerves.

_hey EJ, It’s Ricky, we were in the same team on the trip, and I spilled all my coffee on you_

Ricky felt the need to clear it up, in case EJ wouldn’t remember him.

_I wanted to know if I could have my shirt back?_

Too direct?

_but no pressure_

Better.

There. It was done.

He didn’t want to think about what could’ve been a better way to have a conversation initiated, simply because he had already sent the message. He locked his phone and set it aside, knowing that if he kept the conversation open, he’d keep reading his own texts and he’d start spiraling. He knew himself, and he knew better.

All he had to do was wait until he ans-

There it was. His answer.

He quickly unlocked his phone and opened the text he had just received.

_Ricky!_

He saw more typing.

_Sure, thank you again, though._

_I can take it to you if you want._

Ricky was about to answer to that, but he decided to wait when he saw EJ was typing again, and it took a little longer to deliver.

_Or, you can come to my room and get it._

_There’s actually a party tonight, and I’m just getting ready._

_And you can also stay, if you want._

Ricky stopped to think about the party for a second. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He could’ve used it as well, as an excuse. But, oh well. He has already settled for the shirt thing.

_yeah, I’m going too_

_I can get it_

_what’s your room number? I didn’t know you lived in my dorm as well_

In between seconds, as he waited for a response, he started picking up the clothes Gina had originally picket out for him, and he started changing into them.

_27_

When he read the number, though, it looked almost weird, as if he had forgotten it existed; because there was no room 27 in his dorm. He didn’t really understand numbering systems in most places, and he didn’t quite get why his dorm’s skipped numbers. There was a room 22, 24, 26, 28, yes; but there was no room 27. EJ and him did not sleep in the same dorm, that was clear.

Ricky had also never considered the other dorms; in his first months at college, there were still a lot of things he had to see and experience.

Therefore, Ricky answered.

_never mind, we don’t live in the same dorm_

_what’s your dorm’s name?_

_Newman._

_I guess we’re going to different parties._

_You should still come to this one._

_What’s your dorm?_

Ricky recognized the name as the dorm across the street from his; no further than thirty steps on pavement and stepping over some pretty grass.

_are you asking me to commit treason?_

_I live in Raoul Hall_

_hahaha_

_That’s across mine._

_What’s the worst punishment you can get for going to the enemy’s party?_

_don’t know_

_I might wake up with my bed in the roof_

_or I might have to dance naked in the next assembly_

He knew there was no rivalry between dorms, that he knew of, so far. Ultimately, they were the same school; it was just fun to continue with EJ’s banter.

_You should come then._

Ricky put his phone down without answering that last text, walked outside of the bathroom, where he had started to pretend that he was going to do his hair, conclusively looking at his curly mess and questioning himself regarding the never existing times he actually did something with his hair.

He grabbed the black converse that were always outside, and never kept with his other shoes, because he barely ever wore anything else, and started to tie the shoelaces after putting them on.

He took a look at himself in the mirror; damn right acknowledging that he looked different than his usual self, but not in a bad way. He automatically believed he was looking good, as it should be-

Because he might see Nini. And he might see EJ, possibly; although that’s not at the top of his mind anymore.

_maybe you should come to my dorm’s party instead_

Ricky texted him after a while, trying to turn the situation around. He started thinking about how he could even use the night to introduce the guy. Maybe he could make more progress than he had initially anticipated.

He would’ve understood if it had taken the guy longer to respond, as he hadn’t done it immediately, either; but the next text appeared on his screen just as quick.

_Can’t._

_I never commit treason._

_Plus, I’m kinda the life of the party._

_you can be the life of the party anywhere_

_My dorm is counting on me to be here._

_And your shirt is here, too._

Okay, so there _was_ a small dilemma. He had already told his friends he’d be downstairs by nine, which was in a few more minutes, and he was already wearing that dumb outfit he kind of liked, so he was pretty much ready to go. However, if he did, he wouldn’t get a chance to talk to EJ, and Gina would get mad for making promises he couldn’t keep; and he really did not want to see her angry. However, if he did go to EJ’s, there wouldn’t be a lot of other people he knew that he could talk to, and the night would probably not be as enjoyable as he would’ve hoped.

Furthermore, he still hadn’t lost the hope that he would, perhaps, see Nini that night. He knew Nini lived in the _Raoul Hall_ dorm as well, so she was bound to show up at some party, eventually. If he went to see EJ, he’d lose his chance once again.

So, what was the best option? He didn’t know. Therefore, naturally, after giving it not too much thought,

he chose both; because he doesn’t have to choose one or the other sometimes.

_okay, I’ll be there later_

The first thing that happened once he got downstairs almost had him blushing and wanting to hide behind a wall. When Gina and Big Red saw him, they instantly addressed his clothes; Big Red throwing in a flirty whistle, and Gina telling him how good he looked. It made him wonder if he really dressed that badly normally.

“Wow, Ricky” Even Ashlyn looked surprised.

Really? Did he dress like a hobo or something?

“Let me take a picture” Gina quickly took her phone and started taking photos of him.

Neither of those photos were of him actually looking at the camera nor posing for the photo; they were all showing him covering his face or trying to take the phone out of Gina’s hands. And, yeah, okay, maybe there were a few good photos he did allow to be taken.

For a couple of hours, Ricky did the exact things he predicted he’d be doing that night. The four friends spent some good twenty minutes sitting down, talking to each other and casually bobbing their heads to the music, waiting for one of them to be the first one to ask if anyone wanted a drink.

Gina and Ashlyn were the ones who asked first.

They decided to start off their night by taking a tequila shot. Over the past months, Ricky had learnt it was better if he didn’t pretend it didn’t burn.

Not long after, two guys from one of Ricky’s classes, Carlos and Seb, dragged them to their first round of beer pong, where Ricky, Big Red and Carlos decided to go against Gina, Ashlyn and Seb. It had been a pretty fair game, with Carlos having pretty good aim and Gina not missing at all, it was pretty safe to assume Ricky was already feeling a little lightheaded by the end of the game, which they lost.

There was dancing, but he didn’t really dance; he never did.

There was also singing, which he did a lot of; like he always did, _when he was drunk_ , not sober.

However, when he started feeling like he was losing control of his vocal cords, he decided it was time to replace his drink with soda, and then he restrained himself from drinking anything else at all, because he wasn’t looking forward to having a wacky morning on a Monday.

There was a game of truth or dare, where Ricky kept choosing dare, and it was mostly people asking him to refill their glasses or to take a shot with them, which Ricky found out he could throw the liquid behind him and nobody really noticed.

And then, he decided to leave around midnight.

“Hey, guys” He started once he was able to get his friends together. “I’m gonna go”

“Going to sleep already? Come on, Ricky” Big Red teased playfully.

Ricky laughed. “No, I told someone I’d meet them later tonight”

Big Red lowered his head suggestively, “A date?”

“No, I’m just picking something up” He replied, pointing behind him, signaling his direction.

“Oh, okay” Big Red gave him a sad smile. “I’ll see you later, I guess, if I’m awake when you arrive”

“Yeah, we’ll see”

He gave his friends one final wave, and then he proceeded to exit the common room. As he got closer to the entrance door, however, he felt another person running behind him, trying to catch up. That until they grabbed him by the shoulder, and he had to turn to look.

“Hey,”

It was Ashlyn.

“Hey”

“I’m leaving, too” She told him as she herself began walking toward the entrance of the dorm, and Ricky walked next to her.

“Where are you going?”

“My cousin organized a party in his dorm, and he asked me to come for a while,” Ashlyn explained. “Said something about how we haven’t hung out since high school, so I’m going for a bit”

“ _EJ_ organized the party?” He asked, a bit surprised.

“Yeah,” Ashlyn’s voice had a hint of embarrassment. “He can’t help it, be the center of attention”

“Right” Ricky agreed, as he had noticed before. “Well, that’s actually were I’m going”

“Really?” Ashlyn grinned. “Why didn’t you just say so, we could’ve all come together”

“Yeah, but” He knew he was acting sketchy, but he hoped his reasons would make up for that. “I want to find time and talk to EJ, about Gina, and I didn’t want her to know I was doing it tonight, in case I don’t make too much happen”

Ashlyn didn’t say a word, but her raised eyebrows and her disapproval face yelled more than she could’ve said.

“What?”

“Nothing” She pouted and looked away, without looking at him.

“What is it? You think it’s bad?”

“I think-” Ashlyn stopped to emphasize.

At the same time, they both travelled all the way down the stairs and started walking on the streets under the night, which was colder than Ricky had imagined, and he wished he had his sweater with him; because although it might make him look like a hobo, it sure protected him against the weather.

“-things like this can get very messy, I don’t want anyone to end up hurt”

“What’s the worst thing that can happen? That Nini completely rejects me and I have to spend the rest of the year hiding from her? And, Gina has thick skin, she could handle that, way better than me,”

“Yeah, but, what about Nini and EJ?”

“What about them? How could _they_ end up hurt when they don’t know anything about this?”

“I don’t know” Ashlyn replied. “But this could get messy”

“Relax, if that happens, we’ll stop right away and leave it all, Gina and I agreed” He tried to reassure her. “But we also agreed that we would at least try, and trust me, if there’s anything that’s going to make me get to know Nini, I’ll take it”

“Okay,” Ashlyn sighed. “Whatever you say”

At that, they had both arrived at the _Newman_ dorm. Ricky opened the door with the security that he’d be more than welcome in there.

Fifteen minutes before the clock ticked one in the morning, all the lights were already off, but the moonlight passed through the giant windows just enough for them to see where they were going.

“Do you know where it is?” Ricky asked when he realized that although he could see perfectly, he still had no idea where to go.

“Yeah,” Ashlyn started walking, and Ricky followed. “They meet upstairs, their common rooms are quite nicer than ours”

Ricky walked behind Ashlyn up the stairs and followed her wherever she went. As soon as they reached the second floor, he could hear the music from the dorm’s party, and the more they walked, the louder he could hear it; so, now it was more of a game of follow the sound.

Not too long after, Ricky followed Ashlyn through a wide, yet short, hall, which clearly led to their common room; they didn’t have a door, it was simply divided by a wood arc instead, and he could see the people walking around with their cups in their hands; the music was loud, but not as much as it had been in their own dorm.

As they walked inside, he could see the people that he kind of knew sitting around, talking, some of them still dancing and playing games, but Ricky felt like maybe the party had already begun to die down. Regardless, the first thing he did as he entered the room completely, was try to find EJ.

And, it wasn’t hard to; he simply followed the loudest voice he could find.

Not really, he wasn’t trying to _oh-so-stereotypically_ find the guy, as the one who, based on what he’d seen of his personality, would be yelling and drawing attention to himself. But anyway, that’s pretty much what happened.

“Look, there’s EJ” Ashlyn pointed out when she caught sight of him. Ricky had kind of forgotten that Ashlyn wasn’t there to help him in his quest.

Ashlyn’s voice probably made its way to EJ’s ears, as he quite immediately turned to look at Ricky and Ashlyn, and started making his way toward them.

Ricky stared at the sight of a clearly drunk EJ, half-stumbling as he walked, yet somehow, his hair perfectly in place and his clothes free of any accidental stains.

“Hey, Ash” EJ stood in front of them. “Ricky, I thought you wouldn’t come”

“I said I’d be here later” Ricky threw in a smile.

“Well, it’s very later” EJ replied, to which he also added his own smile; a drunk version of one, that is.

“What are you drinking there?” Ashlyn tried to peek into EJ’s cup, but the guy pulled it closer to his face so he himself could see. “It’s just beer” Either way, EJ took it to his lips and chugged down the remaining booze inside. “You want a drink?” He pointed at the two of them interchangeably as he wiped his mouth with his wrist.

“No, thanks” Ricky declined. “I’ve already stopped tonight”

“Yeah, I’m not drinking tonight anymore either” Ashlyn seconded. “And neither should you”

“Oh, come on” EJ furrowed his eyebrows, although trying to keep his eyes open. “I only have one class tomorrow, it’s fine”

“Whatever you say” Ashlyn nodded defeatedly and fake smiled, to which EJ smiled in return.

“Oh!” He quickly shifted his weak smirk into a surprised, more alert face; turning to look at Ricky this time. “Your shirt, come”

Ricky felt as he got closer to him, and while he walked between him and Ashlyn, which forced them to move to the side to open space for him, EJ getting an easy hold on his hand and started to pull him in his direction as he walked.

The sudden contact took him by surprise, but he didn’t have enough time to think about it, because he quickly let go as there was someone else calling his name.

“EJ!”

Just like that, EJ had been engaged in a different conversation with another person. Ricky turned to look ad Ashlyn, wordlessly questioning her cousin to her, but she simply shrugged and shook her head. Right then and there, when he took a look at Ashlyn’s face, he thought about how weird it must be for anyone to be EJ’s relative.

At the same time, as Ricky and Ashlyn stayed awkwardly standing behind EJ as he was talking to someone else, Ricky started scanning the room as a result of the lack of things he could do at the moment, and-

Right there, in a dorm’s party that wasn’t his, standing behind a drunk, taller man, on a Monday morning, a few minutes after one o’clock, he saw her…

There she was, Nini.

Ricky had never seen her in one of these parties before, but there she was, for the first time; wearing a blue sweater, her long hair naturally falling past her shoulders, sitting down next to another girl, talking and laughing.

“Can you give me a minute?” EJ turned around, which Ricky hadn’t witnessed happening at all because his eyes had been somewhere else. “I’ll be back”

“Uh- yeah, okay” Ricky looked at him for a split second, somehow feeling like if he took his eyes out of Nini, she’d disappear.

“Okay” Ashlyn replied as well before EJ was dragged away from their presence. Again, Ricky didn’t quite notice.

“Can you believe him?” Ashlyn exclaimed with beaten shock. “He asks me to hang out, and then he just leaves?”

“Ash” Ricky whispered without answering the question, even if it wasn’t meant to be answered.

“What?” She turned to look at him, and Ricky felt how she stared and tried to study his face when he was unable to remove his eyes from the girl he was looking at.

“There she is” He whispered again. “There’s Nini”

Ashlyn followed the direction of Ricky’s eyes, which for all he knew, could’ve been very much visible like a laser line.

“Go talk to her” Ashlyn encouraged him with a wide grin while bumping his shoulder.

“What?” Ricky felt a wave of panic pass his skin. “I can’t do that, that’s not part of the plan, Gina hasn’t talked to her yet”

Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “Forget the plan, this is better, she’s right there” Ashlyn pointed at Nini’s direction with her arm, and Ricky quickly pushed it downward, in case someone would see it and figure out who she was referring to.

“I- I- I wouldn’t know what to say,”

“It’s a party, people talk to each with no real reason all the time, just say whatever”

“I don’t know what that means”

Ashlyn sighed. “Okay, let’s go together”

Ricky had to admit, he liked that idea. Something about going there to talk to Nini for the first real time by himself felt as scary as looking down to the ground from the room of a top building; the more he looked, the scarier it got. However, having Ashlyn jump with him made it a little easier, and more doable.

Therefore, Ricky took a breath as he tried to convince himself. He nodded rapidly a few times, accepting Ashlyn’s offer. “Okay,” He exhaled.

“Don’t stress, just be cool” She patted his back, showed him a gentle smile, and started walking.

He just wished that when people said _don’t stress, be cool_ , would actually make him stop stressing and start acting cool.

Ricky followed Ashlyn as she confidently walked toward Nini and the girl she was sitting with; kind of using her as a shield from whatever he was afraid of. When he saw, while peeking over Ashlyn’s shoulder, that Nini had noticed them approach her, he knew there was no going back, and he could not chicken out anymore.

“Hi, Nini” Ashlyn greeted her casually, and Ricky felt like he might melt when he saw Nini smiling as well.

“Hi, Ashlyn,” There it came- “Hey, Ricky”

“Hey, Nini” He tried not to look as conflicted as he felt.

They sat down in front of them.

Wow, he had never really noticed how little game he had. He couldn’t remember if he had ever felt _that_ awkward before, with anyone else. Thankfully, Ashlyn was there to save his ass.

“What are you doing here, fraternizing with the enemy?” Ashlyn joked, knowing that was not her dorm.

Nini laughed at the joke, and turned to look at the girl she was sitting next to, who was also laughing. “Uhm- yeah, I always come to these parties, I am guilty”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at the dorm’s”

“No, I’m- this is Kourtney” She introduced her friend. “We tried to get assigned as each other’s roomies, but it didn’t happen, and we ended up in different dorms” She continued explaining. “I don’t really know that many people yet, so I always come here instead”

So, that was why, Ricky had never seen her at any party before. No matter how hard he tried to attend every single one so he could possibly see her, he was never going to, because she had never been there in the first place. He had _just_ realized there were other dorms, too; so, his luck had been somewhere else, apparently.

“Why weren’t you able to room together?” Ashlyn asked. “My friends and I were able to; we all come from the same high school, when we came to apply together, we signed up for the dorms, and I was able to room with Gina, and Ricky is rooming with Red,” Ashlyn now turned to look at Ricky, bringing him into the conversation after he had been sitting there like a statue the whole time. “Right?”

“Yes,” _Breathe, Ricky, breathe!_

“Wha- what happened with you two?”

He wished he could facepalm himself at that moment.

“Well,” Nini turned to look at her friend, who stepped in and spoke instead.

“Maybe because we didn’t sign up together” They both smiled and laughed, probably at some inside joke they had. “Nini was going to go to another college out of town, and eventually decided not to,”

“Really? What school were you going to?” Ashlyn asked.

“Uh-”

Nini looked a little uncomfortable, maybe even embarrassed, and Ricky wanted to step in and tell her she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to, but he had apparently forgotten how to speak.

Either way, Nini answered- at some degree.

“I wanted to do a music program, and I applied to a bunch of art schools, and I got into one, but I- in the end I decided to come here instead”

Apparently, that was all she was going to give them, but it was okay, because Ricky wasn’t listening very well over the ringing in his ears, anyway.

“Why did you decide to come here?”

Ricky could tell Ashlyn was trying to get him to talk by the way she turned to look at him, as if giving that question to him so he could be a part of the conversation. And yeah, he knew he had to swallow his fear and step up; he wasn’t expecting Ashlyn to be the one who did all the talking, right? Besides, she was right. This was better than waiting for Gina to make the first move; he could do it right there. He had an opportunity, and he’d be a fool if he let it go.

“Well, I don’t really know-” Ricky started, and for some reason, started to feel the invisible pressure drifting away from his body. “Red and I hadn’t talked about college at all, and I hadn’t really thought about it until our last year in high school, when everybody’s talking about it, you know?”

Ricky felt a push of encouragement when Nini smiled at him.

“I had no idea which school I wanted to go to, but then Ashlyn and Gina both really liked this one when we went to the university fair, and Red and I just followed, I guess”

“Right” Nini nodded. “Big Red is your boyfriend, right?” She asked Ashlyn, who happily nodded with a smile.

“What’s his name?” Kourtney inserted herself with the question.

“That’s it” Ricky answered. “That’s his name”

“Really?” Kourtney asked with a little bit of shock and a laugh.

“Legally, and everything” Ricky laughed as well.

 _Oh_ , he was glad he was not acting so awkwardly anymore.

Between their soft laughter, everyone else’s voices and the music, the four of them automatically turned around when they heard a _thud_ behind them.

Ricky couldn’t make out what had happened, but he managed to see a few people bending down to pick stuff up and wiping the floor with paper towels. Ricky just assumed someone had knocked over something from the counter, but it didn’t matter to him because it wasn’t as important as what he had going on in there in front of Nini. Someone being drunk didn’t give him the same rush.

However, he saw that Ashlyn was still trying to get a better look; ultimately standing up and moving around to be able to see through the light mass of people.

“I think that’s EJ” Ashlyn announced as she was still trying to figure out what had happened over there.

Ricky looked at Ashlyn; having forgotten of the guy completely.

“Give me a second, I’ll be back”

With that, Ashlyn left Ricky all by himself.

Somehow, returning to the conversation and making small talk hadn’t been too difficult; he still felt nervous, but he was also feeling the excitement of finally being able to speak to the girl he had fancied for months, even if it was simple chatter and nothing too deep.

“What kind of music do you do?” Ricky ended up asking, hoping Nini wouldn’t be too uncomfortable to go back to that topic, which didn’t happen at all.

Nini’s eyes and smile grew wider after the question, and Ricky wondered why she had avoided talking about it before. Maybe it wasn’t _music_ what she didn’t like to talk about, but maybe the _school_ conversation?

“Oh, I sing mostly-”

“She sings all the time, that’s all she does” Kourtney interrupted her before she could continue, earning a shy smile from Nini.

_Thank you, Kourtney, you’re making Ricky melt._

“I play with piano most of the time, but I recently picked up guitar and I’m trying to get a hang of the violin, but it’s harder than I imagined”

“I love the violin” Ricky replied, showing appreciation for the instrument, although, if Nini’s voice were an instrument, that’d be his favorite one.

“Do you play?” Nini asked him, sounding excited.

“No,” He laughed it off. “But I like the way it sounds”

“Oh,” Nini laughed. “Yeah, me too”

“But I also play the guitar”

“Really? How long have you played?”

“Uh- I’m not sure- seven, eight years, maybe?” Ricky tried to remember. “I started playing in my music class in middle school, and I didn’t want to play a boring instrument like the flute, or the triangle, or the tambourine, so I picked guitar even though I didn’t own one”

Why hadn’t Ricky spoken to Nini before? How had he been missing this?

“My dad was so mad, he had to buy me a guitar for class that same day and told me I _had_ to learn it now”

“At least you did” Kourtney spoke. “Nini’s been trying for around a year and she still hasn’t”

Nini rolled her eyes and tried to defend herself. “I’ve just- been busier with other stuff, I haven’t really gotten around to it- yet”

 _Well, if you want to, I can help you._ Ricky desperately wanted to say it, but he felt a strong barrier on top of his tongue, and it didn’t really come out.

“Last week Kourt and I went to this bar, the _Racoustic Roof,_ and I was watching all these people playing, it was amazing”

Wasn’t that the bar Big Red had talked to him about earlier?

_No- Ricky, don’t do it. Ricky, stop yourself._

“I’ve been there, yeah, it’s really cool” Ricky lied. “I’m actually playing there- next Saturday” He lied worse.

Nini was as surprised as he had expected her to be; she apparently really loved music, and he assumed she’d be impressed by a guy who could play music as well. He regretted the lie as soon as he said it, but he had already done it, and he couldn’t really go back, could he?

“Really?”

“Yeah”

“We should go see him” Nini told Kourtney, who nodded in agreement.

“Totally”

Ricky smiled shily, and not because he was feeling shy, but because he was feeling stupid. “Yeah, you should” But he couldn’t stop it, he guessed.

A sudden realization hit him at that moment; maybe it wasn’t all that bad. A lot of things could happen during the week; maybe they’d forget to go see him, or maybe they wouldn’t really talk and Ricky would expect the self-invitation to die down, and they wouldn’t really go.

However, wouldn’t it be amazing if he did play and Nini did go to watch him?

Whichever other thought that was coming to his head was easily shut down when Ricky felt a hand on his shoulder, which made him instantly look up.

“Ricky, I need your help” It was Ashlyn. “Sorry, guys, I need to take him” She directed to Nini and Kourtney. Both girls smiled and disregarded Ashlyn’s concern.

Ricky felt a little disappointment at the fact he was being dragged out of the moment, but he was also aware he had started to dig himself inside a deep hole, and maybe getting out of there wasn’t the worst idea.

“Okay” Ricky told Ashlyn. He turned to look at Nini and Kourtney as he stood up, and before he could say anything, the girls left their seats as well.

“Maybe we should leave, too” Kourtney stepped in. “We have class in like 5 hours”

Nini made a surprised face, as she had probably not realized what the time was. “Oh, god, yes” She agreed.

“It was nice to see you guys,” Nini began to say goodbye.

“You too” Ricky spoke. “And,” He started before anyone could leave. “Maybe you guys should go to our dorm’s party next time” He drew an invisible triangle with his finger between Nini, Ashlyn and him.

Nini laughed once again. “Yeah, maybe” She grabbed her bag, which was sitting on the couch behind her. “Well, bye”

“Bye,” Ricky and Ashlyn replied, but the girls were already walking out, and didn’t look back.

For a second, Ricky forgot Ashlyn was still holding his shoulder. He couldn’t believe _that_ had just happened. Was he dreaming?

“Ricky, come on” Ashlyn pulled him by the arm, making him snap out of it.

“I can’t believe I just did that” Ricky said excitedly as they walked.

“See? It wasn’t that bad, and now you don’t have to wait until Gina speaks to her for you, you can just talk to her whenever you want”

Ricky knew Ashlyn disapproved of their plan, but he was way too excited and pleased with himself to argue.

Soon, Ricky could see where she was leading him to, as they were getting close to the other side of the room, where he could see EJ, with his eyes closed, and his hair still in perfect condition, laying down on the couch.

“Help me pick him up” Ashlyn directed Ricky while she moved to the other side of the couch.

“He didn’t look like this a few minutes ago, what happened?” Ricky asked while trying to lift EJ’s arm up and placing it around his own shoulders.

Ashlyn did the same from the other side. “Well, he’s been drinking all night”

“Is he always like this?”

“No” Ashlyn adjusted herself next to EJ, ready to pull him up. She looked at Ricky and asked for reassurance with her eyes, to which Ricky nodded.

Ricky and Ashlyn, each holding EJ from each side, stood up together.

“There must be someone here he was trying to impress”

“Well, I hope it was worth it”

Both tried to walk as they carried EJ, but it was a bit useless if EJ wasn’t walking himself. They could’ve tried dragging him all the way to his room, but according to Ashlyn, they had to get up some stairs, and unless EJ was okay with waking up to strange bruises on his ankles, that was definitely not a good idea.

So, Ashlyn tried to make him cooperate. “Come on, EJ”

The guy started walking, as best as he could. He clearly could not put one foot in front of the other, but at least he could stay on his feet; however, that didn’t make him and his walk any less sloppy.

The three of them walked out the same hall they walked in, and then Ashlyn guided Ricky toward the stairs, where they climbed one step at a time, waiting for EJ to catch up to their feet.

“Do you have your keys?” Ashlyn asked him.

“It’s open” EJ answered with tiredness in his voice, but clearly awake. “Matt didn’t lock the door”

“Who’s Matt?” Ricky asked him.

“My roommate”

“Where is he?” Ricky asked once again, while Ashlyn let go of EJ, leaving him laying only on Ricky so she could open the door and turn the lights on.

“In your dorm” EJ leaned his face down to look at Ricky next to him. “At the party”

“So, you could’ve gone there all along”

“No, I told you, I’m the life of the party here”

EJ threw Ricky a relaxed smile, as best as he could, which made Ricky laugh because every piece of this man was a bit goofy at the moment; the way he was leaning on Ricky, allowing him to hold him by the waist; the way he had to look down because he’s a bit taller than Ricky, so the light in the hall made shadows in his face, that combined with his half-open eyes and his loose smile, yet, again, his hair and his clothes still in a perfectly good state, regardless of the mess he had just done downstairs.

“Shut up EJ” Ashley reacted to his comment. “Come inside”

EJ started walking into his room, and surprisingly to Ricky, he started doing it on his own, to the point where he was able to let go of Ricky and he was still standing and moving his legs. Nevertheless, Ricky still walked behind him, and once they were all inside, Ashlyn closed the door. EJ allowed himself to drop on the bed, which Ricky assumed was his, and got himself in a sleeping position, sliding his hands under his pillows and getting comfortable.

“We didn’t even get to talk” EJ mumbled over the pillow.

“Because you got super drunk” Ashlyn complained as she sat down on the other bed, staring at him. Ricky did the same, sitting down next to her.

“I didn’t mean to” He mumbled his defense, almost pouting.

“What hour do you have class tomorrow?” Ashlyn asked him, taking his phone out of his front pocket.

“At 12”

“Well, I’m setting up your alarm at 11, just in case”

“Thanks” He answered without moving much, his face half buried under the pillow.

Looking at EJ that night, half-awake, not drunk off his ass, but not completely conscious either; there was not going to be much talking about Gina happening. However, he wasn’t too upset about it, since his encounter with Nini before that had put him in such a good mood, nothing was going to ruin his day. He’d just need to find another excuse to talk to EJ another time.

Ashlyn and Ricky looked at each other, wondering if there was anything else they were supposed to do. They were saying nothing at all, but by using their faces only, they agreed it was time to leave.

“Okay, EJ” Ashlyn sighed and stood up from the bed. “We’re gonna go now”

“Okay”

“Text me when you wake up”

“Yeah”

Both Ashlyn and Ricky started walking toward the door. Ashlyn grabbed the handle and opened it, and before either of them could step out, Ricky heard his name.

“Ricky!”

EJ’s voice was still muffled under the pillow, but he could tell the guy was trying to get his attention.

“Your shirt”

Ricky had forgotten about it entirely. He had originally used the shirt simply as an excuse, but he guessed it was good to get it back. EJ was pointing at the top of his desk, so Ricky followed his finger until he saw it. His blue shirt was perfectly folded, and he could smell the fabric softener when he picked it up.

Ricky was going to mention something about him washing his shirt, but then it came to his attention that maybe that had been the obvious thing to do, and it was something that he, Ricky, would’ve never imagined to do. He took note of it and made a mental post-it to remember to wash a shirt if someone ever lent him one.

EJ could be all sorts of ridiculous, but he surely was charming; with his perfect hair and his civilized laundry skills.

“Thanks EJ” Ricky waved at him. “Good night”

With that said and done, Ashlyn and Ricky left EJ’s room, and then EJ’s dorm. Ricky held his arms, trying to protect himself from the colder air as they stepped out. They crossed the street back to their own dorm, and were surprised to find Big Red and Gina waiting for them in the entrance of the building, sitting on the stairs, both wearing big, warm jackets and talking.

“How was it?” Big Red asked his friend and his girlfriend as soon as they all saw each other.

“You went to see EJ and didn’t invite me?” Was Gina’s greeting.

“We couldn’t even talk to him, he was already wasted” Ashlyn responded, accepting Big Red’s jacket as he was putting it on her shoulders. “But he talked to Nini”

“Dude!” Big Red congratulated him.

“Oh my god, Ricky! What did you talk about?” Gina asked with excitement.

“Ugh-” Ricky stretched out his arms. “Let’s talk tomorrow, I’m beat”

“It’s already tomorrow” Gina answered as they all walked up the stairs to their respective rooms.

“Okay, let’s go to sleep and I’ll tell you before class”

Ricky went to sleep that night feeling more accomplished than he had in a good while. Sure, nothing much had really happened, and he had somehow dug himself in a white lie he wasn’t really sure would be a problem or not quite yet, but he got to talk to the girl who’s always inside his head, he had a great night with his friends, and he got a clean shirt.

To no one’s surprise, Ricky and Big Red woke up late the next morning. Neither of their alarms had gone off, and Ricky wondered if they had even set them in the first place, which he highly doubted considering they had practically fallen asleep as soon as they entered their room.

Luckily for them, Ashlyn called Big Red before it was too late. Big Red had jumped off his bed, and as he put on the same pants he had worn the day before, he threw his pillow at Ricky. He ended up doing the same as his friend; grabbing the first items he saw available, trying to spray some deodorant, though he missed and ended up spraying most of him; putting everything inside his backpack, brushing his teeth while tying up his shoelaces and running a hand through his hair to get rid of his bed head. Both of them ran downstairs to meet with the girls, who had been waiting for them.

The group grabbed some breakfast to go, and as they walked to their first class, they had the awaited conversation Ricky had promised. Although Gina had been disappointed that he hadn’t had the chance to talk to EJ, she was happy he had found the opportunity to talk to Nini, at least.

The day passed relatively quicky; classes flew by as he focused more on trying to complete the work of the day and handing it in so he could get out as soon as possible, not because he had somewhere to be, but because he couldn’t ignore forever the headache that was beginning to form, and he was desperately wanting to get something that would help.

He wondered how EJ would feel when he woke up.

By the time his last class finished, he quickly walked all the way to his locker to keep the material he wouldn’t need later that day, but before he could put his books inside, he noticed a piece of paper sitting there, and he was sure someone had slipped it in, because he had definitely not left it in there.

Ricky grabbed the piece of paper, which turned out to have a thicker paper texture, and he knew it wasn’t just a random note. Therefore, he placed his books inside the locker and took a better look at the piece of paper in his hands; he turned it around and saw a whole printed text waiting for him.

_All the freshmen are kindly invited to participate in this year’s treasure hunt taking place in all campus areas, starting Tuesday at 12 a.m., all the way until 11:59 p.m._

_If you wish to participate, you can download the instructions on the school’s website under the “Freshman Initiation” tab._

_We wish to see you participate. Good luck!_

“Is this supposed to be an initiation ritual?” Big Red asked while drowning his french fries in ketchup. “I thought they’d have us do something crazier, like run naked down the street, or chug down a whole bottle of soda”

“That’s illegal now” Gina answered him. “Every school has been forbidden from participating in any hazing or initiation rituals, and that’s more of a fraternity thing, it doesn’t apply to us”

“Is it really?” Big Red asked.

“People have died in those things”

“No, they haven’t, that’s ridiculous”

“Yes, they have!”

“But anyway,” Ricky intervened before Gina and Big Red started fighting. “Why would they organize this for tomorrow? We still have class”

“That’s exactly why, it’s a test” Gina began to passionately explain. “The ones who participate will be skipping class, and everyone will know that the ones who do show up for class are not participating”

“And?”

“And,” Gina continued to explain. “You’ll be known as the one isn’t involved in social events, so nobody will count on you for future stuff, and eventually they’ll stop even considering you; and little by little, before you know it, you’re invisible and completely irrelevant, and nobody will remember you when we come back for the 10-year reunion” Gina crossed her arms and leaned back onto her chair in one quick motion.

Both Ricky and Big Red stared at her, without really knowing what to say, because there had been a lot of different images portrayed in that one sentence, and neither of them knew where to begin.

“Wh- what does that mean?” Big Red asked with eyes half-open, as if it would help.

“It means we are going” Gina responded. She gave each boy a quick dominant look, and then looked down to her phone when a short vibration was felt through the table.

Ricky accepted his fate with a heavy sigh while looking at Big Red, who was still trying to get what Gina had just said.

A few seconds of silence went by; with Big Red chewing on his french fries and Ricky using a plastic force to remove the onions out of his slice of pizza, but that lack of chatting was quickly cut short when Gina, who was still looking down at her phone, bumped the table with her hand, making a few other people around the cafeteria turn around and look. Gina then proceeded to grab Ricky’s arm with more force than he considered needed.

“Are you kidding????” Gina yelled at her phone.

“What’s wrong?” Ricky asked.

Gina quickly took her own hand back to herself, and Ricky felt like Gina might’ve broken his arm if she hadn’t removed it. Gina explained while she brought her hair to the back of her ears and tried to set it all in place; “Ashlyn just sent me a text, she’s coming with EJ right here right now”

Gina continued to re-organize the stuff on the table, which Ricky saw no difference in. “Don’t let me say something stupid”

Yeah, Ricky wasn’t going to be much help with that.

“Relax, he’s not even here yet” Big Red told Gina, as watching her pull at her jacket and fix everything around her had started to feel a bit crazy. However, as soon as Big Red said his last word, Ricky could see, from the position he was sitting at, the pair of cousins entering the place.

“Never mind, they’re here”

Gina never turned around to look back; because she was smart and she definitely knew Ashlyn had warned her because she was now aware of the crush she had on her cousin; and Ricky knew that even when she didn’t approve of either side of their Operation Hook-Up, she wasn’t the kind of person to sabotage it, either.

Ricky could almost feel the enthusiasm in Gina’s body, solely by looking at her trying to stay cool while EJ and Ashlyn approached from behind. EJ caught Ricky staring at him, and before he sat down on their table, he sent him a kind smile, which Ricky returned with no questioning.

Even when they were all trying to seem subtle, Ricky made sure he bumped Gina’s foot under the table, to alert her the guy was about to sit down.

“Hey guys” Ashlyn pulled an empty chair from the table next to them and sat down, allowing EJ to sit on the one that was already there.

“You guys remember EJ, right?” Ashlyn asked, more directed toward Big Red and Gina, which of course was code for _hey guys, let’s not make this weird_.

“Yeah” Gina smiled widely, and Ricky had to laugh inside.

“Of course,” Ricky answered himself. “How are you, man?”

EJ turned to look at him, and Ricky could tell from his expression, that he knew Ricky was mostly asking about his morning after the party, rather than more of a small-talk, general question they’d ask anyone.

The guy shook his head slightly before he answered; “I’ve been better, but good, thanks” EJ smiled again, and Ricky well knew his comment was entirely only directed to him, since he was going to be the only one who’d get why.

“Were you talking about the treasure hunt?” Ashlyn asked her friends after she saw the paper invitation laying somewhere on the table.

“Oh, yeah” Gina repositioned herself. “I was just telling them how not taking part in this is the worst thing we can do”

Ricky wasn’t surprised at how easy EJ was able to insert himself in the conversation, and he also wasn’t surprised by his answer.

“Yeah, it’s social suicide”

“But why? I don’t think people would care that much if we’re not there, if anything, we’re doing them a favor by not increasing the competition” Big Red commented across the table. Ricky nodded in agreement to his friend.

“The first hefty social event of the year is the most important one, regardless of what it’s about; it could very well be a staring competition and it’d still be the one event that’s going to define you for the rest of the year” EJ replied. All the while the guy was speaking, Ricky had been staring at Gina, making mental notes to tease her later about how close she was to drooling.

Although, it didn’t happen, as funny as it would’ve been. In fact, she stepped in as soon as EJ finished explaining. “Exactly, that’s what I was saying”

Ricky watched as EJ pointed at Gina with his hands, cheering at the fact there was someone who was also in the right opinion.

“I think if you don’t want to go, you could just skip class and stay in your dorm all day, at least people won’t see you went to class and skipped the event that way” Ashlyn advised them everyone else.

“Do you want to go?” Big Red asked his girlfriend.

“I think it might be fun, yeah, I was planning on going” She answered.

“I thought we were all going” Gina did, too. “Were you two thinking of not going?” She lowered her stare and pointed threateningly.

Ricky turned to face Big Red, and he assumed the guy stay his accomplice throughout the conversation, but something in his eyes told him they were not in it together that time.

“I mean, if Ash wants to go, I want to go with her”

As soon as he said that, Ashlyn pouted and shrunk in sweetness. She reached out and held Big Red’s hand in hers. So, yeah. Ricky was alone in this.

“I’m just not a very involved person” He tried defending himself. “I’m happy staying out of trouble”

“But you’re always in trouble” Big Red contradicted him.

“That’s different”

“I mean,” Gina switched off everyone’s focus. “I don’t really want to participate in a treasure hunt where I’ll get dirty and will fight people for stuff, and the prize will possibly be a Pokémon card or something nerdy, but I’m still going” Ricky noticed EJ smiled at that; probably being something he also believed. “And you’re going too”

Ricky immediately disagreed. “I’ll be hiding in my room, you can go”

“Okay, but at least show up a few times; let’s go at midnight, then you go to your room, and then come back, so at least it will look like you’re trying”

Ricky sighed, and he would’ve accepted, also possibly thinking about not showing up at all that day or making some excuse, but he couldn’t even begin because EJ had already stepped in.

“You don’t have to go at midnight, you can start if you want, but the treasure hunt will be incomplete” EJ began to explain. “The seniors don’t set everything up until later, so no one will find the treasure too soon”

Everybody was looking at EJ.

“How do you know that?” Ashlyn intervened.

“I know people,” He said proudly. “And you don’t have to show up at times just for it to look like you’re trying” He directed this at Ricky. “They only check whoever attended class, but they don’t really keep an eye out”

“Oh,” Gina straightened up. “Well, then, we can ditch and go somewhere,”

“That I can do” Ricky took the last bite of his pizza.

“Yeah, and you can come back later to try and find something if you want, or go hide in your room, either one will be fine” EJ agreed with their new plan.

“Okay” Ashlyn started. “So, where are we going?”

“I thought you did want to go” Ricky teased her.

“Yeah, but if there’s nothing to find, I don’t want to do it” She pointed at EJ, who had just spoiled the trick to them. “I’ll go when we get back”

“Where do you guys go when you skip class?” Ashlyn asked, directly at Big Red and Ricky.

Ricky didn’t stop to feel offended at the question and find a way to defend himself, although he did make a face and it did make everyone laugh. There was no use pretending Big Red and him didn’t skip class from time to time, Ricky more than him sometimes.

He still answered; “The skate ring, the arcade, or, we went to the movies once”

“Wait, speaking of which,” Gina interrupted, looking at him with a complaint ready to burst out. “Why didn’t you tell me you were playing at the Racoustic Roof on Saturday?”

Ricky was left paralyzed for a second. Where did she hear that?!

“Where did you hear that?”

“Nini told me” She answered casually, with a naughty smile thrown in, which Ricky, and everybody else, knew why she did it. Well, everyone but EJ, but if he was as smart as Ricky knew he was, he’d catch up on it very quickly.

“You talked to Nini?” Ricky asked, and Gina nodded as she raised her right eyebrow suggestively.

“You’re doing it?” Big Red asked happily, because he had introduced the idea to him before.

If it had been true, Red would’ve been happy for him, because he had finally made a move to beat his own stage fright, and he knew his friend would feel proud of them both; Ricky for actually going on stage, and himself for being the one who got him to do it.

But it wasn’t true, and he didn’t want to look when Bid Red’s smile faded.

“I-“ Ricky started while shaking his head. “Nini was talking about it, and I don’t know why, but I told her I would, and I didn’t deny it later,”

However, his smile didn’t fade, it just shifted into one similar to Gina’s; ready to tease him about their newly-discovered crush.

“Do you know what you’re singing?” Big Red asked with mischief still in his voice.

“No-” Ricky started. “I mean, I’m not really singing-”

“But you already said you are” Gina crossed her arms, clearly not having Ricky’s _quitter_ attitude.

“I know-”

“I know what we can do” Big Red interrupted him, and Ricky really didn’t know if it was because he had wanted to spare him from such moment, or if a too big of an idea had just popped up and he couldn’t ignore it. “Do you remember the time we had class at night and we didn’t go, and we ended up going to the lake?”

It didn’t take more than a second for him to know what Big Red was going to say before he even said it; of course he remembered.

“Oh, yeah” He agreed with that idea, so he nodded.

“There’s a lake here?” Gina asked.

“Not really, it’s like an hour away, driving” Ricky answered.

“It’s so nice, you can even camp there, I mean, of course, we’re not camping, but we can get a space for barbecuing, there’s an open kitchen, hammocks, kayaks, actual bathrooms, it’s really cool”

“Yeah, we should do that” Ricky added to it.

“Sounds good” Ashlyn agreed while hugging Big Red’s arm.

“Okay, we have a plan” Gina agreed as well. “We need to prepare stuff, then, like right now”

While he was looking at Gina speak, a thought crossed his mind; something that he hadn’t quite talked to her about, nor anyone else on the tble, but he did it anyway, mainly for two reasons; because Gina had apparently been talking to Nini about him, so she was doing her part, and because the words were already too far up to let them sink in inside his lungs.

“EJ, wanna come?” Ricky turned to his left and asked. “Or is it too much social suicide?” He teased, because he knew EJ wouldn’t take it the wrong way, _hopefully_.

And just as he thought, he didn’t. EJ simply met him with a fake smile and half an eye roll. “Sure, I’ll go”

Ricky returned the smile with a more genuine one, which was also re-returned.

And while they made plans for their trip, planning who would buy what, and who already had some things, Ricky raised up his eyebrows at Gina, who was trying hard not to thank Ricky out loud at that moment.

By the time they left the table, Ricky and Nina stayed behind so they could talk about it.

“Should I invite Nini?” Gina had asked, already with her phone out and in her hands.

Ricky thought about it first. This little trip wasn’t supposed to be another excuse for them to talk to their respective crushes. Inviting EJ had been an act of _returning a favor_ and compensation for not having talked to him the first time he had intended to do so. Also, he was Ashlyn’s cousin, and he was sitting right there, in front of them, while they planned their day; it felt a little rude to leave him excluded.

He imagined inviting Nini would make it feel like a set-up, and maybe the people who weren’t part of such plot would feel uncomfortable; especially Ashlyn, who had been clear about the way she felt about it.

But, if Gina was going to have the chance… maybe he could take advantage as well?

“Okay, yeah”

The treasure hunt was starting in a little under eight hours, and for the rest of the day, the group used their time to prepare and get things ready, and honestly, Ricky had never felt more excited for a ditch day before.

Ricky only slept for a few hours before they left, which wasn’t too big of a problem considering he’s had tons of practice with staying up late and waking up early, and these atrocious habits hadn’t kicked any disturbance in his daily routine quite yet. Therefore, he was able to fight the yawns and the need to stretch out his arms entirely.

When they met in the entrance of EJ and Kourtney’s dorm early that morning, Ricky could see how some people already had their printed-out instructions and were already involved in the day’s event, and Ricky wondered what he’d be up to if they hadn’t come up with their spontaneous trip. He might’ve still been asleep, or his friends might’ve found a way to drag him into the activity, somehow.

Gina and Ashlyn were the first ones to get there, and like they did most mornings, they ended up calling either Big Red or Ricky for them to wake up and start getting ready. However, to their surprise, they were already on their way to the dorm, and Ricky saw their happy-surprised faces when they saw them crossing the street.

When EJ walked through the entrance of his dorm, he was carrying a medium-sized bag, which probably had the stuff he had volunteered to bring, and he was also carrying a smaller backpack on his shoulders.

The thing that Ricky didn’t miss to notice was how good he looked at such an early hour in the morning; he was dressed accordingly for going to the lake, but he still looked like he had put a lot of thought in his clothes, and Ricky couldn’t decide if he actually did, or if he was just naturally talented and could grab whatever he wanted and it would still look good, regardless of what it was. Politely, he greeted everyone individually; a kiss and hug for Gina and Ashlyn, and a bro-hug with a fist bump for Big Red and Ricky, and he was able to smell the guy’s cologne. It made him rethink if he should’ve worn any, but then again, they were going to the woods, and no, he hadn’t thought about it, and yes, EJ would probably wear cologne anywhere he went.

They waited around ten more minutes for Nini and Kourtney to come down to the outside of the dorm as well. When they did, Ricky had to remind himself not to stand speechless all the time and actually say something.

Once the seven of them were ready to go, Big Red and Ashlyn called the two ubers they needed to get to the lake. None of them had their own car they could drive, except for EJ, who Ricky remembered had a truck, but he never brought it up nor said they could use it for the trip, and Ricky wondered if it had anything to do with Ashlyn and Red leaving it parked in campus instead of bringing it back the day of the field trip. Either way, Ricky wasn’t going to mention it if EJ himself wasn’t going to, either, because it was _his_ truck, after all.

They stayed at the lake almost all day, and it wasn’t until it started getting dark that they realized it was getting later than they had anticipated to stay, but they still stayed a bit longer, because Ricky insisted the sunset in the woods was so much different than in the city, and he swore they hadn’t seen the stars that way ever before. EJ told them they’d still have a few hours left in the treasure hunt if they wanted to participate, but Ricky had no intention other than going straight to bed as soon as they arrived to the dorms, so he didn’t know how the event turned out in the end.

At the lake, they spent a few hours preparing their food and chatting, and later decided to go for a swim. While in group, Ricky found it easier to make his way in whatever conversation Nini was being a part of, but when they were alone- that didn’t go as smoothly. Ricky soon realized that he didn’t know what to say whenever they were together. He wished Ashlyn’s advice of _talking about whatever_ was easier in practice. He often found himself finding an excuse to quit the conversation and leave, because he hadn’t thought about how talking and- hopefully, flirting, with someone with include actual words.

On the other hand, he wondered why it was so easy for Gina to straight up walk to EJ and talk to him; and when he saw them chatting and laughing, he tried to remember to ask her later hat they were talking about, because Ricky needed serious help with that.

Ultimately, the trip ended up being _mostly_ what he had expected it to be. Yes, he had predicted himself being awkward around Nini, although he had hoped it wouldn’t happen.

Again, _the trip ended up being mostly what he had expected it to be_ … because the one thing he had never thought would happen, happened.

At some point during the day, when Ashlyn and Big Red were trying to get into a hammock together at the same time, and Gina, Nini and Kourtney were sitting by the lake, EJ had found the perfect moment to get Ricky alone.

“Hey”

“Hey”

“So, what was that?” EJ took a sip of water.

“What was what?” Ricky asked confused.

“You and Nini”

“What?”

“Was that you flirting?”

Ricky’s eyes had widened, the unexpected punch of words making it hard for him to respond at once.

First of all, he wasn’t aware that other people, other than his friends, had been picking up on his efforts to picking someone up; in his mind, he had been engaging in casual talking, so far- nothing out of the friendly ordinary. Secondly, EJ had brought it up in a way it made it seem like he wasn’t doing such a good job, and he felt more self-conscious than before all of a sudden.

“What is too bad?” Ricky found to be the only response he was able to throw in.

EJ leaned in casually. “I wouldn’t say you’re doing bad; it just looks sad” Ricky didn’t know if he should be offended, or worried. Or both. “What were you talking to her about?”

Ricky looked down and let out a sigh; letting EJ know that _he_ knew he wasn’t going to win any prizes for best moves any time soon. “I don’t even know, I asked her about her classes, and her homework, what she liked to eat…”

He had expected EJ to laugh or to make fun of him, but he didn’t. Instead, he proceeded to give him what he probably considered to be _the best advice_.

“You gotta be more aggressive,”

Ricky was completely taken aback.

“Play to win,” EJ continued. “Ask her to help you with the grill, or to free the kayak from the rope, ask her if she could lend you her phone to make a call because your phone died, _or tell her you’ll exchange her lunch for yours_ ,”

Ricky didn’t even stop to react to those things individually. “Don’t tell me that works”

“Mostly” EJ replied proudly.

Ricky shook his head, completely disregarding his piece of advice. “I was thinking of something different, something that would impress her, not scare her”

“Well, she likes music, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What about that show you’re playing on Saturday?”

“It’s not really a show, and I’m not really playing”

“It’s always a show,” EJ added. “And if you did play, you’d have something to impress her right there”

Ricky thought about that the rest of the day, how something he had originally thrown to the back of his head had surprisingly resurfaced just because EJ had brought it up in a different light. Maybe signing up at the bar and playing in front of Nini would be the push he needed to make his move.

It didn’t make any less scary, though.

After Ricky and Big Red entered their room after being dropped off at the dorm, Ricky decided to take a shower before going to bed. Out of habit, he checked his phone before he hopped into the shower and checked the few notifications he had; mostly messages in his group chat filled with memes and reactions, followed by more memes.

There, he saw that his conversation with EJ had popped back to the top of the list, meaning he had new messages from him. He clicked in his photo to open them.

_I forgot to thank you for bringing me to my room the other night._

_Thanks._

Ricky laughed in his head as he responded.

_no problem_

_thanks for your weird advice today_

_will totally not use it ;)_

Ricky disregarded the missed calls he had from his mom, and set his phone aside so he could still finish the day on a good note.


End file.
